TheConversationUS,
@TheConversationUS@newsie.social avatar

In 1911, George de Hevesy had the sneaking suspicion that the kitchen of his boarding house cafeteria was reusing leftovers in their soup.

So he came up with a plan and sneakily sprinkled a small amount of radioactive material in his leftover meat. A few days later, he measured the radioactivity in the prepared food – catching his landlady red-handed. It was the first successful radioactive tracer experiment.
https://theconversation.com/how-a-disgruntled-scientist-looking-to-prove-his-food-wasnt-fresh-discovered-radioactive-tracers-and-won-a-nobel-prize-80-years-ago-214784
@histodons #histodonds #historyofscience

IAmDavid,

@TheConversationUS @histodons that’s not very nice of him. Do you think he was in a boarding house because he tried the same thing at home?

ronsullivan,
@ronsullivan@mastodon.social avatar

@IAmDavid @TheConversationUS @histodons Doesn't everybody use leftovers in their soup? Wotta jerk.

jackcole,
@jackcole@mstdn.social avatar

@rdviii My opinion of #nobelprize winners just dropped. Poisoning the food of boarders is worse than reusing leftovers.

penguin42,
@penguin42@mastodon.org.uk avatar

@jackcole @rdviii Remember that people didn't understand the dangers at the time; there were radioactive drinks and other crazy stuff until the 1930's; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_quackery

jackcole,
@jackcole@mstdn.social avatar

@penguin42 @rdviii
I worked at the Center for Human Radiobiology at Argonne National Lab studying the remains of the radium dial painters, and even one doctor and wife who injected themselves with radium. But as a chemist, I have to say that it is beyond any normal practice to ingest anything without knowing its safety/harm, else there would be very few scientists alive. And beyond that to put something into food consumed by others is unimaginable. This amounts to reckless endangerment.

jackcole,
@jackcole@mstdn.social avatar

@TheConversationUS And he subsequently spent decades in prison for poisoning food the other boarders?

michaelgemar,
@michaelgemar@mstdn.ca avatar

@TheConversationUS @histodons Making the food radioactive for everyone seems in hindsight to be a questionable move.

SRDas,
@SRDas@mastodon.online avatar

@TheConversationUS @histodons although leftover meat :(

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