Re: [Phys-l] About Radium

["Gregory Good" <ggood@aip.org>]

Dear Chuck and list folks,


Greg Puskar at WVU sent this on to me, and it turns out I'm working on
Rutherford right now for a new web exhibit we are mounting at the Center
for History of Physics at AIP. Radioactive materials generally were not
easy to come by in 1910, but they were available for purchase. There
were only a handful of suppliers. Rutherford received his as a "grant"
or loan from the Vienna Academy. There was a man in Germany who was
selling a particular product which escapes me right now. And I'm on the
road so I can't look it up. However, I will get you more specific info
next week when I am reunited with my notes.


Greg Good





Gregory A. Good, Ph.D., Director
Center for History of Physics, AIP
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740
Twitter @GeoDynamo
Yahoo Group: hist-mod-phys
Facebook Page "The New Atlanteans"
> > > chuck britton  04/07/11 5:37 AM >>>
An historical question has come my way and I pass 
it on - in case anyone here has something to share

Thanks.

From: Rare book and manuscripts [mailto:EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU]
On
Behalf Of Donald Kerr
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 7:43 PM
To: EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU
Subject: [EXLIBRIS-L] Dr Hocken and radium

Dear Exlibris colleagues,

In December 1903, while preparing to return to New Zealand, book
collector
Dr Thomas Morland Hocken (1836-1910) purchased one sixth of a gram of
radium
for £10. What intrigues me is how Hocken, a visitor to England, secured
the
radium, given its relatively new discovery by the Curies and the extreme
difficulty in isolating it. (In December 1898, the Curie's explained
their
discovery in the barium fraction of another new element, which they
named
"radium". Curie then set about separating the radium from the barium -
an
exercise that was to prove difficult. Despite the industrial assistance
the
Curies received, it took the Curies another four years to prepare one
gram
of the element. To do so, they had to sift through more than seven
metric
tons of pitchblende).

Can anyone clarify what the situation was about the trafficking and sale
of
this element at that time. Was it available over the counter in
apothecary
shops? If not, I imagine he got professional assistance from a fellow
surgeon. And how was it packaged? A vial? And was that the going rate
for
the element? Hocken certainly obtained the radium in London, not Europe
(Paris). .

While this is outside the normal coverage in the list-group, perhaps a
list
member knows of someone who deals in the field of history of science,
chemistry, etc. If so, could they please pass this query on. Any leads
would
be appreciated.

Cheers
Donald
** please excuse cross-posting**
**
Dr. Donald Kerr, F.L.S.
Special Collections Librarian
University of Otago
P.O. Box 56
Dunedin, New Zealand
Phone: (03) 479-8330
Email: donald.kerr@otago.ac.nz
**
'Happy, intense absorption in any work, which is to be brought as near
to
perfection as possible, this is a state of being with God, and the men
who
have not known it have missed life itself.' - D. H. Lawrence
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