That Time Everyone Loved Radium: What Could Go Wrong?

Ridiculous History

iHeartPodcasts

History, Society & Culture

4.3 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Fellow Ridiculous Historians, we all know the inspiring and tragic story of Marie Curie -- however, not everyone is familiar with the absolute boom in radium-associated merchandise, which took the world by storm before the public understood the dangers of radiation. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max dive into a bizarre tale of capitalism, marketing, and consequence: let's call this parable 'The Radium Era.'

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Ridiculous History is a production of IHeart Radio. Welcome back to the show.
0:27.9	Thank you, as always so much for tuning in.
0:32.4	Let's hear it for our own mythical super producer, Max the Radiation Williams.
0:41.2	Max, the Radiation Boy Williams.
0:44.0	I'm just glowing, y'all.
0:45.9	You always are.
0:47.1	Are you doing a new skincare routine?
0:49.2	Hopefully not involving radium.
0:50.8	Yeah, or the condition.
0:52.3	No, well, fair.
0:53.2	Maybe Radium could knock the condition right out. Why not try the condition. No, well, fair. Maybe the, maybe radium could knock the condition
0:55.3	right out. Why not try? At this point, why not? Why not? Well, we'll tell you, why not, Max,
1:01.5	just a little bit. They called me Ben Bowlin. You also just heard Mr. Noel Brown there, and the
1:08.1	rumors are true. Fellow ridiculous historians, we have returned from some time at sea.
1:13.7	We're pleased as punch or perhaps pleased as plutonium to rejoin you today.
1:20.3	So we've all heard of radium, right?
1:24.1	Yeah, and can I just take a quick moment to say, I missed you guys.
1:27.0	Ben, I saw you, but we didn't record.
1:28.5	This is the first recording we've done in a little bit. And we've both been under the weather, forps of travel crud, and I'm happy to be back. Yeah, Radium is certainly something that we learned about when studying the periodic table in school. and I think we all learned about Marie and Pierre Curie
1:45.3	and the Discovery of Radium.
1:47.5	That was good. periodic table in school. And I think we all learned about Marie and Pierre Curie and the Discovery of Radium.
1:47.9	That was going to be, I totally forgot, you guys.
	...

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