1911 Britannica entry on radioactivity had zero mention of radiation hazards
zetalyrae · x · 2026-11-02
@demestive dug up the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica article on radioactivity: it meticulously documents Marie Curie's atomic weight measurements and radium's spectrum—even noting that pure radium bromide "gives a brilliant carmine colour to the bunsen flame"—without a single word about radiation's health dangers. Attached a Breaking Bad meme. Such historical snippets are often cited as an analogy for how early coverage of transformative technologies completely misses their long-term risks.
More from Fun
- Not true, I'm still at Ricursive: iScienceLuvr debunks departure rumor with a meme — iScienceLuvr · 2026-11-02
- Slop Eisley 0.6.80 patch fixes keyboard input bleeding into flight controls — jasonkneen · 2026-11-02
- Grok Confirms Beth Barnes' Deep Effective Altruism Ties, Prompting Debate Over Who Shapes Claude's Guardrails — adamamcbride · 2026-11-02
- AI psychosis: fully shaping your information environment around your own mental models — generativist · 2026-11-02
- fofrAI: vibe coding is just coding now — fofrAI · 2026-11-02
- Spotted: a door with a triangle logo that looks exactly like Anthropic's — yenkel · 2026-11-02