The Last Word On Nothing

Back at the end of the 19th century, when scientists were just discovering radioactivity and Marie Curie was trying to isolate radium, nobody knew what the effect of radioactivity on the human body might be.  Radium was a new element, just a pretty blue glowing thing.

Curie also wrote:  “One of our joys was to go into our workroom at night; we then perceived on all sides the feebly luminous silhouettes of the bottles or capsules containing our products. It was really a lovely sight and one always new to us. The glowing tubes looked like faint, fairy lights.”  She died in 1934 of aplastic anemia, killed by the fairy lights.

http://abstrusegoose.com/430