Radium Girls
Radium Girls
The Radium Girls were a group of female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint at the United States Radium factory in Orange, New Jersey, around 1917. The women, who had been told the paint was harmless, ingested deadly amounts of radium by licking their paintbrushes to give them a fine point; some also painted their fingernails, face and teeth with the glowing substance.
Pronunciation
Radium Girls: /ˈreɪdiəm ɡɜːrlz/
Etymology
The term "Radium Girls" is derived from the element Radium, which was used in the paint, and "Girls", a reference to the young women who worked with the substance.
Related Terms
- Radiation poisoning: The harmful effects that occur when the body is exposed to a large amount of ionizing radiation.
- Radium: A chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals.
- United States Radium Corporation: A company, most notorious for its operations between the years 1917 to 1926 in Orange, New Jersey, in the United States that led to stronger worker protection laws.
- Luminous paint: A type of paint that glows in the dark due to the addition of a phosphorescent substance.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Radium Girls
- Wikipedia's article - Radium Girls
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