February 25, 2020
1 min read
Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAmOne Reason Not to Leave Radioactive Fluid in Your Pocket
Originally published in August 1901
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“Henri Becquerel has confirmed, by an unpleasant experience, the fact that the rays of radium have an energetic action on the skin. Having carried in his waistcoat pocket for about six hours a small sealed tube containing a few decigrammes of intensely active radiferous barium chloride, in ten days’ time a red mark corresponding to this tube was apparent on the skin; the skin peeled off and left a suppurating sore, which did not heal for a month. Pierre Curie has had the same experience after exposing his arm for a longer period to a less active specimen.”
—Scientific American, August 1901
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