![]() She died in Washington, DC in 1988 at age 90. In 1931 Hughes returned to NBS to work on optics and physical chemistry, staying until her retirement in 1961. Her work on the case proved the workers had ingested so much radium that their breath was toxic, and Hughes testimony in court was important in winning the case for the dial painters. Hughes utilized the same techniques and similar equipment she had used in her research at NBS measuring radon gas. A lawyer representing the women hired Elizabeth Hughes to measure the amount of radium in the workers bodies by an analysis of their exhaled breath. When five of these women sued their employer, the company denied wrongdoing and a lengthy court case ensued. Over time this caused devastating, and sometimes fatal, injuries. These workers’ supervisors instructed them to sharpen the point of their paint brushes by licking the tips, which the company insisted was safe, but caused the workers to ingest radioactive radium. In 1927 Elizabeth (née Damon) Hughes became one of the leading scientists involved in the court case of the so-called “Radium Girls” or radium dial painters – young women in New Jersey hired to apply glow-in-the-dark radium paint onto watch dials. She stayed at NBS for only one year before leaving to take positions in private industry. ![]() The latter experience would prove very important seven years later. Damon arrived at the apex of the NBS radium work following World War I and was directly involved in two of the most important radium projects: standardization of radium sources for the medical community, and measurement of radon gas from uranium ores. “At least two of these women – Elizabeth Damon and Constance Torrey-if working in the present day, would have received Department of Commerce medals for their work on radium metrology,” stated radiation physics historian and retired NIST Ionizing Radiation Division chief Bert Coursey, “it is remarkable that - in spite of handling large quantities of radium in the early decades of the 20th century – these women lived into their eighties (except Constance Torrey who died suddenly at age 50.)”Įlizabeth Elmore Damon graduated from the University of Vermont in 1919 and joined NBS that same year. But apart from occasional newspaper articles about them, they did not receive the accolades they deserved for their service to the nation. These five individuals made critical contributions to allow the safe and accurate use of radium. Dorsey himself suffered radiation burns while working with radium and encouraged his staff to seek other employment after gaining some work experience at NBS. That career choice was by design, due to the danger of working with radioactive material. Dorsey in a 1920 report. Technical challenges in the use of radiation measuring equipment and the hazards associated with handling radium required these workers to be both skillful and reliable in following proper protocols.ĭespite a growing demand for their work, many of these researchers initially stayed at NBS for only a few years. “In the radium work it is desirable to employ of more than usual ability,” wrote the NBS radium group chief Noah E. All five had attended leading colleges and universities, and all but one (Yung-Kwai) had earned baccalaureate degrees. Three would conduct radium radioactivity measurements (Elizabeth Damon, Constance Torrey and Mary Brower), one researched radium luminous materials (Elizabeth Yung-Kwai), and one worked on radiation protective materials (Nina Alderton). ![]() Between 19 five female researchers were brought on for radium work. With a labor shortage caused by the war, NBS began hiring women for the first time into entry-level chemistry and physics positions. But soon after the world was upended by the outbreak of World War I. In 1914 a radium research group was established at NBS and began recruiting staff. Accurate measurements and national standards were required to guarantee the radioactive strength of radium samples and enable commercial transactions of this rare and valuable material. These tiny amounts of radium were soon found to be promising for the treatment of cancer, and a new international industry was born to manufacture radium products for medical therapy. Marie Curie found that radium existed in minute quantities in uranium ores, and she was able to chemically separate less than a gram of radium from several tons of ore. In 1898 Marie Curie and her husband Pierre discovered the new radioactive element radium that would change the direction of science and medicine in the early 20th century.
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