In 1920, Marie Curie developed cataracts... In 1934, she developed aplastic anemia, and her body stopped producing new blood cells. Marie Curie died on July 4, 1934, at the age of sixty six.
Now, more than 80 years since her death, the body of Marie Curie is still radioactive... Even Marie’s belongings—papers, furniture, cookbooks—are still radioactive. Her original notebooks, for example, are in France’s National Library, in Paris. Like their author, these manuscripts are in lead-lined boxes. If you want to hold her notebooks, you will need to sign a waiver and wear protective clothing...
Marie furthered the research of French Physicist Henri Becquerel. Becquerel discovered that uranium emitted rays. Marie discovered that these rays remained constant despite the uranium’s condition. She theorized that these rays originated from the atomic structure of the uranium. Her theory created the field of atomic physics. To describe this new kind of energy, Marie coined a new term:
Radioactivity.
The general attitude towards this new energy was that it had to be good for your health. Makers of everything—from cigarettes to makeup—added radioactive materials to their products. Burk & Braun, for instance, was a German candy company that produced the Radium Schokolade chocolate bar. It was marketed as chocolate that would make you look younger. Water crocks that stored drinking water were radium-lined. Manufacturers promoted them as a cure for arthritis and wrinkles. Golf balls had small amounts of radioactive materials embedded in them. This let Golfers find missing balls with a portable Geiger counter.
