The Radium Girls (A True Story)
On a sunny day in 1917, Katherine Schaub whistled on her way to her first day of work at the United States Radium Corporation. She had a jaunt in her step, and couldn't wait to start painting dials of watches for soldiers fighting in World War 1. Recently, scientists had discovered radium, in all of its glow-in-the-dark glory, and they realized that the radium could be painted onto watches for soldiers. Allegedly, radium was also good for curing illnesses, and many more things. A handful of scientists said that radium was highly poisonous and had the potential to kill many people, but there were many more people who thought that it was was a magical substance, and everybody worshipped the rosy-cheeked radium dial painters. It was the most high-paying job that a girl could have, and it even surpassed some men's pay checks. Katherine couldn't wait to become one of the "radium girls," and she knew that on her first day there, her life would change for the better. If only she knew how wrong she was, and how much danger she was putting herself in.
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