Atomic Accidents summary

At the end of the nineteenth century, Nikola Tesla accidently discovered radiation. Then, in 1896, after more research and experimentation, Wilhelm Rontgen published the first paper on radiation.

Soon, scientists around the world were researching this new phenomenon. Scientists Marie and Pierre Curie soon discovered a radioactive element that they named radium.

Yet underneath the excitement, radiation held a dark secret: it was mortally dangerous.

The pioneers of radiation research were not aware of its pernicious effects. They would all suffer, in one way or another, from the negative effects of radiation.

Tesla’s health deteriorated after repeated exposure to radiation. An assistant of Thomas Edison’s died from overexposure; Pierre Curie was weakened from prolonged exposure to radioactive materials.

While new medical applications for radiation were discovered, because people didn’t yet know how truly dangerous it could be, those using these new methods didn’t take sufficient precautions.

X-ray machines became a widely used diagnostic tool, yet technicians, exposed on a daily basis, suffered from leukemia and cataracts. Today medical professionals use appropriate precautions to protect themselves from excess radiation exposure.

Despite the health risks, radiation still offered many exciting solutions. Radium therapy, in which tumors are exposed to radium, became one of the few effective treatments against cancer at the time.

The “healing power” of radiation, however, was a popular idea and one that foolhardy entrepreneurs tried to cash in on, often with tragic consequences.

Businessman William Bailey created a “medicine” that was essentially water enriched with small quantities of radioactive materials. His tonic, “Radithor,” was popular until people started getting sick. Millionaire Eben McBurney Byers, who had consumed large quantities of the tonic, suffered from weakening bones, so much so that his jaw almost completely deteriorated.

Such tragedies changed the public perception of radiation, and are the source of modern society’s fear of the phenomenon. But those fears would only deepen as scientists explored a further use of radiation – the nuclear bomb.