Today's #HotAlphabet entry:
F for 'Five Incredible Things You Can Do With Radium'
This was written a while ago to mark the launch of my debut 'Half Lives: The Unlikely History of Radium' and over a decade after I started research am still finding new stories.
museumofradium.co.uk/five-incredi...
Yellow image card that has a paper back of Chain Reactions and a quote "Both entertaining and horrifying" - Wall Street Journal.
Continuing my #hotalphabet until I forget, run out of letters or Chain Reactions: A Hopeful History of Uranium is launched in paperback (31 July 2025).
Wall Street Journal called it "both entertaining and horrifying"
E is for Elvis Presley 👇
Photoshoot for Life magazine: The father is seen sporting a stylish black outfit with red breast pockets, collar, and a cap, exuding a sense of sartorial flair (well at least a very 1950s look). The mother takes center stage in the feature, clad in a bright orange jumpsuit referred to as the ‘U-235,’ complete with perfectly coiffed hair and a shovel in hand. The daughter dons a smaller version of the mother's outfit, known as the ‘Diggerette Jr,’ complete with black detailing on the pockets.
He was clearly not a fan. But I am and absolutely love this photoshoot with all my heart. Revel in its 1950s glory again. #GlowAndTell #HotAlphabet
photo of the back of the can which reads: 1. Remove label and tell your enemy its laughing gas. 2. Energy free night light (illuminates in darkness). 3. Mix with cold cream for that radiant beauty. 4. Instant male sterilization (sniff twice daily). 5. Use as a room air freshener. 6. Toothpaste recipe: mix 3 to 1 ratio with baking soda, for ever glowing smile.
7/
And the object we started with. A sealed canned produced by Brenster Enterprises of Etters, Pennsylvania. Inside is ‘Canned Radiation from TMI.’ i.e air. Not sure if you can read the back label but have put it in the Alt. #HotAlphabet #GlowAndTell
Photograph of a sealed can. It has an off white label on it that says The Original Canned Radiation. And a picture of the cooling towers of Three Mile Island. At the bottom it says 'Canned on Location at T.M.I"
Today’s #HotAlphabet post lands us firmly in the realm of nuclear energy. C is for Canned Radiation and the nuclear incident that reshaped public attitudes, regulatory frameworks, cultural imaginations and caused – as I argue in Chain Reactions – the end of the first hopeful history of uranium.
A black and white photograph of Eben Byers as a young man. Shows a white man with a white collar and slicked back hair.
4/ Bailey is remembered today as the man behind the horrific death of Eben McBurney Byers from radiation poisoning. But he was only one of many entrepreneurs, doctors and scientists marketing radium treatments during the #20s30s and beyond. #HotAlphabet #GlowAndTell
Black and white newspaper photograph of William J Bailey. A white man with round glasses, slicked hair wearing an old fashioned white collared shirt and bow tie.
Image showing a paper back version of Chain Reactions and a blurb that reads "It is enlightening, engaging, tragic, funny, accurate and optimistic all at once." Nick Touran - What Is Nuclear. Out in paperback July 2025.
Counting down till the release of the paper back of Chain Reactions
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B is for Bailey — William J. Bailey, to be precise.
Best known for his infamous Radithor, Bailey was a radium entrepreneur and sold a whole suite of “therapies” based on radium. #HotAlphabet #GlowAndTell
That's it for tonight. There’ll be plenty more of these curiosities as we go — the world of radioactive cosmetics is one of my favourite (and most bizarre) corners of beauty history and one of the most prominent commercial uses of radium in the #20s30s #HotAlphabet #AtomicAgeBeauty #GlowAndTell
Black and white newspaper advert. Shows a black pot of Artes Radium Cream. The headline says "Radiate Youth & Beauty" and details of the price, the address and text which includes "The Radium properties of this scientific preparation stimulate the skin cells, celaring the complexion and refining the texture of the skin in a wonderful way. Artes creates NEW beauty.
Artes based their claims on the work of Madame Maria Hornes, a beauty specialist who championed “scientific skin treatments based on the latest medical achievements.”
A month's supply was yours for 12/6.
#HotAlphabet
Black and white photograph of a pot of Artes radium cream and box. The pot, which is shown with its lid off, is black with white lettering. The box is white with black lettering. The style is very moderne and art deco.
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Kicking off my #HotAlphabet with A is for Artes Radium Cream.
Launched in 1932, it claimed to hold “The Secret of Facial Rejuvenation” — and, yes, that secret was radium.
#GlowAndTell #RadioactiveBeauty
Front cover of the paperback of Chain Reactions. It is a blue book with purple, yellow and white text with the title of the book and my name. On this image there is also two endorsements - "There is much to enjoy in Santos' breezy and -yes- hopeful history." Physics World and "Genuinely interesting throughout" Brian Clegg, science writer.
Starting this evening, I’m launching #HotAlphabet – a A-Z of radioactivity – in celebration of the upcoming paperback release of Chain Reactions: A Hopeful History of Uranium. It’s a #GlowAndTell exploring the strange, brilliant & (sometimes) forgotten history of radioactivity one letter at a time.
