Marie Curie and the early use of radionuclides in medicine - 22 March 2012

Thursday 22 March 2012 - 2.00pm & 7.00pm

This lecture is being held twice. Firstly in Forth Valley College, Falkirk at 2.00pm and then in the Ineos Exhibition Centre Grangemouth at 7.00pm. All are equally welcome at either venue.

Light refreshments will be served prior to the evening talk.

Until the start of the 20th century, the only effective treatment for cancer was surgical excision. Surgeons had to cut into nearby healthy tissue to be sure of removing all traces of the growth, sometimes with appalling disfigurement. However, Roentgen’s x-rays and Marie Curie’s radium (both from around 1900) proved useful alternatives to surgery. In the latter case, success rates were broadly similar.

The first part of the lecture looks at the lives of Marie and Pierre Curie, and the circumstances that led to the discovery of radioactivity and radium. The second part will consider the therapeutic applications of radium compounds in the first thirty or so years after their discovery. Although the stress will be on cancer therapy, other applications, notably as patent medicines of no use apart from extracting money from the gullible, will be considered.

There are no tickets or charge for this event but an indication of numbers will assist with the catering so please contact the secretary.