Radiomir

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Radiomir is a phosphor invented in 1914 that consists of a mixture of zinc sulfide and radium bromide .

Radiomir was patented by Guido Panerai . It was mainly used for the luminous dials of clocks . Panerai also transferred the name to the first wristwatch for combat divers that used dials with Radiomir fluorescent material, which could therefore also be used in deep and dark waters. Radium compounds were initially considered to be relatively harmless or even beneficial to health. In the 1920s, however, knowing their harmful effect after multiple dial painters in Orange by ionizing radiation were seriously ill the dial color. As a result, the Radiomir was no longer used.

Radium is dangerous to humans

The dangerousness of radium for humans was already recognized in the early 1920s, but was first described in 1924 by the New York dentist Theodor Blum . He published an article about the clinical picture of the so-called radium jaw . He observed this disease in patients who, as clock face painters, came into contact with luminous paint, the composition of which was similar to the radiomir. While painting, they moistened the tip of the brush with their tongue and this is how the radioactive radium got into their bodies. He initially attributed the disease to the toxicity of phosphorus . The local pathologist from New Jersey , Harrison Martland was, finally, in 1925 a study began, the cause was correctly attributed to the radium at its end.

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ For a detailed description of the dangerousness of radium for humans cf. RE Rowland's account: Radium in Humans - A Review of US Studies. Argonne (Illinois): Argonne National Laboratory, September 1994, pp. 23 f.
  2. ^ B. Lambert: Radiation: early warnings; late effects. (PDF; 1.8 MB) In: Harremoës, Poul u. a. (Ed.): Late lessons from early warnings: the precautionary principle 1896-2000. Copenhagen: European Environment Agency, 2001, ISBN 92-9167-323-4 , pp. 31-37.
  3. ↑ T. Blum: Osteomyelitis of the Mandible and Maxilla. In: Journal of the American Dental Association . Volume 11, 1924, pp. 802-805, doi: 10.14219 / jada.archive.1924.0111 .
  4. ^ First major publication by the research team: HS Martland: Some Unrecognized Dangers in the Use and Handling of Radioactive Substances. In: Proceedings of the New York Pathological Society. Volume 25, 1925, pp. 88-92, doi: 10.1001 / jama.1925.02670230001001 .
  5. ↑ HS Martland and RE Humphries: Osteogenic sarcoma in dial painters using luminous paint. In: Archives of Pathology. Volume 7, 1929, pp. 406-417, doi: 10.3322 / canjclin.23.6.368 (free full text).