Event Description
In the early twentieth century, radium was poised to affect the sexual lives of men and women, revolutionize the American household, and change medical clinics. Advertisements promised that radium fertilizers would beautify gardens; radium paints would glow from the faces of wristwatches and clocks; radium cosmetics would woo men; radium suppositories would restore their sexual vigor and virility; and radium needles would eradicate cancerous tumors. Once considered exclusively a scientific object, radium in the early twentieth century U.S. was quickly transformed to a kinky commodity that appeared in numerous formats and in different contexts. It was provokingly advertised and widely consumed, shaping social attitudes, gender identities, as well as medical and laboratory practices. In turn, radium commodities often returned to the sites of their production—the scientific laboratory—dictating lines of research and constructing scientific facts. This talk is about the process of radium becoming a familiar and desirable commodity.
Event Speaker
Maria Rentetzi, Professor of Science, Technology and Gender Studies at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg
Event Information
Free and open to the public; registration required. Please visit the event webpage for additional information. Hosted by the American Institute of Physics.
