![]() Many radium girls resigned but were “quickly replaced,” according to Moore, because there was still a demand, though it was much less. struggled with the loss of the military contract. ![]() “The fact that this stuff was glow-in-the-dark was an immediately useful idea for instruments that needed to be looked at at night,” said Gregory Kowalczyk, a chemistry professor at Southern Connecticut State University, “so, much of the watches and clocks and dials were used for the military in World War I.”Īfter the War ended, the U.S. These watches later became popular with the general public. military to make wrist watches instead of pocket watches with glowing hands. factory in Orange, New Jersey won a contract by the U.S. ![]() Radium paint’s glow was relatively dim, but this was beneficial to soldiers because they could tell the time without revealing their positions. When soldiers were wading through the mud and in the dark, they would be able to tell the time. In 1918, “95 percent of all the radium produced in America was given over to the manufacture of radium paint for use on military dials,” according to Moore. Some 375 girls were recruited to paint dials in 1917. In 1917, when the United States entered the war, the demand for radium watches and clocks skyrocketed, and “lots of dial-painters were motivated by the idea of helping the troops,” wrote Moore. Workers were taught to “lip-dip” or “lip point,” which meant placing the tip of their paintbrush in their mouths before dipping it in the paint to make sure the numbers on dial faces were sharp and easy to read, according to “The Radium Girls” by Kate Moore. These women worked long hours for low wages painting tiny numbers on watch and clock faces with radio-luminescent paint, a glowing substance containing radium, a radioactive material harmful and even lethal when ingested, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. radium girls, as well as those who worked at radium factories in Newark, New Jersey and Ottawa, Illinois, entered the work force during World War I. Known as the “radium girls” and centered in a Waterbury manufacturer, the women spent seven days a week, ingesting radium while they worked.Īt the time, radium was used in products from chocolate to toothpaste, and factory workers were even painting it on their nails and clothing. Products allowing soldiers to tell time in the trenches of World War I resulted in Connecticut women being poisoned. Mary Rudzis, journalism student at Southern Connecticut State University, reported this story in 2017 as part of Journalism Capstone coursework on World War I.
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