Delicate hands deftly applied radium paint, brushes flying from dials to the paint to their lips. The technique both saved money and doomed young painters. Though radiation poisoning would claim ...

Literally, the work was light as the main job the young ladies were given was to apply glowing paint to the faces of clocks, instrument gauges, and wristwatches for the United States Radium Company.

In the 1920s when radium paint was introduced into the manufacture of clock dials in a New Jersey factory, the dangers of the newly developed material were still to be discovered.

We are at a critical time and supporting climate journalism is more important than ever. Science News and our parent organization, the Society for Science, need your help to strengthen ...

Stories about mythical Greek gods and heroes, 1920s radium dial painters in New Jersey, and 1930s nightclub goers in Berlin ...