100 YEARS AGO

“The treatment of cancer with radium” — The discovery of radium was speedily followed by its use in the treatment of cancer, and it was hoped that at last a remedy had been found for this terrible disease... A very large number of cases of cancer have been treated by radium in this country, on the Continent, and in America. Some have improved remarkably, but in most instances there has been no apparent benefit, and in no case has sufficient time elapsed to speak with certainty of cure... Radium is applied in small tubes to the surface of a tumour, and in some cases it has been found possible to place it in the interior of a growth through a small incision. The quantities available are so minute that only a small area can be treated at one time... Fortunately the radium can be used again and again, for its energy appears practically to be inexhaustible.

From Nature 20 April 1905.

50 YEARS AGO

“Biological hazards of radiation” — In the same week as the “Statement on Defence, 1955” and the White Paper “A Programme for Nuclear Power” were published in Great Britain, the Atomic Energy Commission of the United States produced a long and detailed report on the radiation and ‘fall-out’ produced by thermonuclear explosions. In the following week, the Federation of American Scientists communicated proposals for an international study of the potential dangers in tests of nuclear weapons... When on March 10 the Prime Minister was asked in the House of Commons to take the initiative and propose the establishment of a United Nations Commission... Sir Winston replied that experts at the disposal of the Government saw no reason to dissent from the opinion of the United States Atomic Energy Commission's report, issued on February 15, that the tests so far carried out have only released enough radioactive material into the atmosphere to cause an individual living in the United States to receive the same quantity of radiation that he would have received in an X-ray chest examination at a hospital... in making its proposal for an immediate study of the potential genetic risks of nuclear weapons, the Federation of American Scientists appeared to be envisaging dangers from a number of tests greatly in excess of those likely to be carried out in the foreseeable future.

From Nature 23 April 1955.