The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women

In 1901, an unnamed scientist is traveling to England to give a lecture. He has in his pocket a tiny vial of radium, which he has forgotten about. It was gifted to him by Marie and Pierre Curie, who discovered radium in 1898 and were making remarkable discoveries with the element. The scientist is one of the few people on earth to possess a sample of the difficult-to-extract radioactive element. In the media, radium is depicted as “enchanted,” a substance of the gods. The author points out, however, that enchantment can also involve a curse.

A few days later, the scientist finds a red, burn-like mark across his stomach, which deepens and grows more painful in the following days. Finally, he remembers the radium.