Radium was isolated in its metallic state by Marie Curie and André-Louis Debierne through the electrolysis of radium chloride in 1911. They extracted the radium compound from uraninite and published the discovery at the French Academy of Sciences five days later. Radium, in the form of radium chloride, was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898 from ore mined at Jáchymov. When radium decays, it emits ionizing radiation as a by-product, which can excite fluorescent chemicals and cause radioluminescence. All isotopes of radium are radioactive, the most stable isotope being radium-226 with a half-life of 1,600 years. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather than oxygen) upon exposure to air, forming a black surface layer of radium nitride (Ra 3N 2). It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Boldly advertised as “A Cure for the Living Dead,” it promised to tackle various ailments from diabetes to sexual decline.Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. A popular one was Radithor, an “energy drink” consisting of distilled water with tiny amounts of radium dissolved into it. At the end of the day it was a gimmick,” said Frame.īut other kinds of products meant to be ingested proved lethal. “These creams didn’t do any good, but they had such low levels of radioactivity that I can’t imagine any kind of an effect. How dangerous was it to use radioactive creams? Luckily, they didn’t cause much harm. The idea that putting radioactive elements in everyday products would have beneficial results turned out to be a catastrophically incorrect assumption. And radium was like that back in the day,” said Frame.īut radiation has an indiscriminate, destructive effect on the human body, and must be targeted at cancerous cells. “It was like saying ‘I have a gold credit card.’ It’s not actual gold, it’s just that gold conveys an idea of value, something important. Radium was so popular in the consumer market that many products claimed to be radioactive, even if they weren’t. We still use radioactive sources today, although not radium, to deal with cancer.”Īd for a radium hair treatment from 1924. “Radioactivity, when used properly by someone who knew what they were doing, could cure cancer. “X-rays, another form of radiation, and radium were being used in medicine to treat a variety of diseases,” said Paul Frame, a health physicist at the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, in a phone interview. Medical practitioners found early successes using radium and X-ray imaging, and consumer brands tried to capitalize from radiation therapy’s reputation. Becquerel was credited with its discovery, but the term “radioactivity” itself was coined by Polish-French scientist Marie Curie in 1898, the same year she discovered radium. When the first radioactive consumer products were launched, in the early 1900s, radioactivity was a brand new field of science. It’s full range of products all purported to unleash the benefits of radioactivity, including lipstick and facial powder, as well as ointments, soap, suppositories, razor blades, energy drinks and even condoms. The creams didn’t work as advertised but that didn’t stop Tho-Radia cosmetics from becoming popular. But there really wasn’t any science to show that it was true.” Soon after its discovery, radioactive beauty products were hitting the shelves. “There were implications that the energy would help your teeth if they put it in toothpaste and give you a glowing expression if they put it in facial cream. Jorgensen, an associate professor of radiation medicine at Georgetown University, in a phone interview. “Before people started to fear radioactivity, all they seemed to know about it was that it contained energy,” said Timothy J. This mysterious new form of energy, discovered by French physicist Henri Becquerel in 1896, had become imbued with mythical powers. Today, no one would intentionally smear radioactive materials on their face, but in 1933, the dangers of radioactivity were not yet fully understood. It was part of a line of cosmetics called Tho-Radia – after thorium and radium, the radioactive elements it contained. Billed as a “scientific beauty product,” it promised to improve circulation, firm muscle tissue, reduce fat and smooth wrinkles. A miracle cream was launched in Paris in 1933.
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