![]() ![]() Once in the body, it usually became concentrated in the bones, continuing to emit potentially dangerous radiation and often causing cancer or creating a skeletal condition that resulted in spontaneous fractures. Radium had also been used indiscriminately in tonics and other medical application in the belief that it was close to a cure-all and it had been handled carelessly by people in industry. The painters of luminous watch dials in factories had made a practice of pointing their brushes with their lips and thus ingested radium. With this experience, he gave special attention to the victims of radium poisoning, a national scandal in the twenties. Millikan) was to measure background radiation coming from the earth, so that it could be distinguished from cosmic radiation. It was at the California Institute of Technology, as a graduate student in the late 1920s and early 1930s, that Professor Evans's task for his doctoral thesis (under Nobel laureate Robert A. He has had a unique impact on radiation biology." The DOE added that Professor Evans, as a founder of nuclear medicine, "occupies a special place in the history of radiation physics and biology and the development of our understanding of radiation effects today. ![]() ![]() The award honors the memory of Enrico Fermi, the leader of the scientists who achieved the first self-sustained, controlled nuclear reaction. It recognizes "exceptional and altogether outstanding scientific and technical achievement in the development, use or control of atomic energy. The Fermi Award is the highest scientific award given by the DOE. The Department of Energy said in its citation accompanying the Fermi Award, that Professor Evans did pioneering work "in measurements of body burdens of radioactivity and their affects on human health, and in the use of radioactive isotopes for medical purposes." Professor Evans was a founder of nuclear medicine and established the standard, used throughout the world, for the maximum permissible body burden of radium. His family said the cause of death was respiratory failure. Evans, professor emeritus of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, winner of the 1990 Enrico Fermi Award and a pioneer in studying the effects of radium on the human body, died December 31 in Paradise Valley, AZ, where he lived in retirement. A visit with one of the last “Radium Girls.” MRS Bulletin, 44(11), 903–904.Dr. The American Historical Review, 103(5), 1713. Radium Girls: Women and Industrial Health Reform, 1910-1935. The Radium Girls have also debunked the “wonder” element, leading to better regulations on the use of radioactive materials. This is an inspiring story of a group of workers who took collective action against their powerful employers and overcome enormous odds to fight for a safe working environment. The fight was finally settled in 1939 by the United States Supreme Court. The company remained defiant and filed several rounds of appeal. Harrison Martland proved conclusively that the workers had died from radium poisoning by examining the bones of the dead women which continued to emit radiation. They had reported their concerns to their company but it denied responsibility and tried to cover up. These symptoms include anemia, teeth falling out, bone fractures and cancerous tumors developing on jaws, hips and joints. As a result, the women were ingesting radium and many succumbed to strange illnesses over the next three to four years and died. They were taught to put their brushes laden with radium paint between their lips to make a fine point for the delicate handiwork. The workers were told to paint numbers on watches and dials using camel hair brushes and a luminous radiant paint that glowed in the dark using the “lip, dip, paint” routine. ![]() Dial painting paid more than three times the usual factory job and it was considered as “the elite job for the poor working girls”. Radium Corporation for radiation exposure in 1927. The dangers of Radium radiation came to light only when the Radium Girls, a group of young female workers who painted luminous watch faces, sued their company U.S. There were rumors that Curie’s husband, Pierre, killed in 1906 by a horse-drawn carriage, had stumbled in the street due to radiation-induced weakness. For instance, several scientists from the European radium laboratories had developed leukemia. However, there were some disturbing developments elsewhere. ![]()
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