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The Surprising and Alarming History of Radium Watches
Forget lead paint; what about radium paint?
The ability to be able to read a clock in the dark has been a part of the timekeeping industry for over a century. As electric lights became more common, the ability to know what time it was after the sun went down became more important. But there was no good way to illuminate a clock face in the late 19th century. Clocks on the wall or standing in darkened corners were often out of the glow of nearby candles or lights. Pocket watches could only be read if you walked over to a candle and pulled it out in the light. It was inconvenient.
Electric lights were not small enough to be fitted to watches or clocks. A candle could not be fitted to a clock in a way that was safe or easy to use. It seemed like a problem that would have to wait for new technology. But then, in 1898, a new element called radium was discovered, and radium had a very surprising and delightful effect. It was luminescent.
It didn’t take long until radium was being placed into paint to create things that glowed in the dark. The ability for something to glow in the dark in 1900 was space age. It was futuristic. It was cool. And it was completely novel. In a world with crude electric lights, oil lamps and candles, something that would glow green in the dark was the cutting edge of technology.
Watch dials, clock hands, gauges and airplane instruments were quickly slathered in radium paint to make them glow in the dark.
This new paint contained radium-226, which was cool and marketable but it was also dangerous. This was in a time before it was discovered that radium was potentially dangerous. Radium was advertised as a wonder chemical, a futuristic new element that would help people enter the 20th century with style and poise. Radium became a fad that stretched far beyond watches. Radium water was sold as a miracle cure. Radium was put into face creams, hair gel, make up and even toothpaste.
In 1914, Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky and Dr. George S. Willis founded the Radium Luminous Material Corporation and…
