Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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We'd like to thank Luciteria for the loan of the element samples and the display in today’s episode. To learn more please check them out here: luciteria.com I already own a lot of these.

After its discovery by Marie Curie, the radioactive element radium was incorporated into everything as a “cure all.” The most famous was RADITHOR, a radium-infused tonic that claimed to treat over 150 different ailments. Eben Byers would drink over 1,000 bottles of Radithor in three years. This episode of [HALF-LIFE HISTORIES] explains how Byers’ resulting death would change an entire industry.

TITLE IN REFERENCE TO “The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off” BY RON WINSLOW OF THE WSJ: web.archive.org/web/20170216124222/https://case.edu/affil/MeMA/MCA/11-20/1991-Nov.pdf

SOURCES:
Radium Wikipedia: nrc.gov/materials/types/radium.html
The Radium Girls book: amazon.com/Radium-Girls-Story-Americas-Shining/dp/149264935X
Marie Curie Nobel summary: nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/marie-curie
Radithor Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor
“The Radium Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off”: web.archive.org/web/20170216124222/https://case.edu/affil/MeMA/MCA/11-20/1991-Nov.pdf
Radium “cures”: museumofquackery.com/devices/radium.htm
William Bailey Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._A._Bailey
The Radiendocrinator: orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/radioactive-quack-cures/radioactive-pads/radiendocrinator.html
Radithor health museum: orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/radioactive-quack-cures/pills-potions-and-other-miscellany/radithor.html
Radithor PubMed article: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2195177
Eben Byers Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Byers
Eben Byers’ cemetery: web.archive.org/web/20160113201140/http://www.alleghenycemetery.com/images/newsletter/newsletter_XIII_1.pdf
The discovery of radioactivity: aps.org/apsnews/2008/02/becquerel-discovers-radioactivity
Radium Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium
Radium Girls NIH summary: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5595405
“Hot Bones” journal article: academic.oup.com/jnci/article-abstract/82/21/1667/927947?redirectedFrom=PDF
Radium Girls Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls

00:00 Intro
01:14 The Radium Girl
03:59 The Long Con
07:21 The Cheating of Ebenezer Byers by the Con Man William Bailey
14:15 Radium Jaw
19:07 Hot Bones
22:10 Patreon Names

MUSIC:
Composed for [THE FACILITY] Meydän

“Elän”
Meydän
“Freezing but warm”
Meydän
“Elk”
Meydän
“Away”
Meydän
“Deadly Isotopes”
Meydän

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