Topic I : Radiation

Radiation

Everyone knows that radiation is dangerous and can kill us. We’ve all heard about the warnings that come from nuclear reactions: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. We know today that our forefathers weren’t as wise.

Troops turn their faces away at the moment of detonation
of an atomic bomb, Camp Desert Rock, Nevada. 1955.

Marie Curie herself died from radiation exposure, and her notebooks are so irradiated that they must be kept in a lead locker. Radium used to be used to paint glow-in-the-dark numbers on clock faces.




But we expect better from ourselves today. Considering human nature, this is really quite silly. I’m going to tell you the stories you don’t know about humans and radiation.

Sources

Main image: Tumblr, FuckYeahIllustration; Roger Wendell

Soldiers turning away from atomic bomb: Stolen from Corbis. © Bettmann/CORBIS, photographed by Anthony Oulette

Radium-painted alarm clock: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bionerd/3608427768/

Fire line: Golden State Photography, http://www.goldenstatephoto.com/GSP1.html