Dark Lives Of 'The Radium Girls' Left A Bright Legacy For Workers, Science
Kate Moore's new book digs into the short, painful lives of the Radium Girls, who worked painting luminous dials on watches and clocks — and were poisoned by the glowing radium paint they used.
In the early days of the 20th century, the United States Radium Corporation had factories in New Jersey and Illinois, where they employed mostly women to paint watch and clock faces with their luminous radium paint. The paint got everywhere — hair, hands, clothes, and mouths.
They were called the shining girls, because they quite literally glowed in
