Undark

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1921 advertisement for Undark Undark (Radium Girls) advertisement, 1921, retouched.png
1921 advertisement for Undark
Vial of Undark Undark luminous paint.jpg
Vial of Undark

Undark was a trade name for luminous paint made with a mixture of radioactive radium and zinc sulfide, as produced by the U.S. Radium Corporation between 1917 and 1926. [1] The U.S. Radium Corporation was based in Orange, New Jersey. Undark was used primarily in radium dials for watches and clocks. Undark was also used for compasses, weapon sights, speedometers, telephone mouthpieces, fish bait, locks, and many more articles of use. [2] The people working in the industry who applied the radioactive paint became known as the Radium Girls [3] because many of them became ill and some died from exposure to the radiation emitted by the radium contained within the product. The product was the direct cause of radium jaw in the dial painters. Undark was also available as a kit for general consumer use and marketed as glow-in-the-dark paint. Radium was used to illuminate watches under safer practices until around 1968. [4]

Contents

Similar products

Mixtures similar to Undark, consisting of radium and zinc sulfide, were used by other companies. Trade names include:

See also

References

  1. "U.S. Radium Corporation" (PDF). National Park Service. Historic American Buildings Survey. Archived from the original on August 23, 2012. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  2. Blum, Deborah (2016-03-17). "The Legacy of Undark: Why Science Journalism Matters". Undark Magazine. Retrieved 2025-03-19.
  3. "US Starts Probe of Radium Poison Deaths in Jersey, United States Radium Corporation (1925)". Brooklyn Eagle. 1925-06-19. p. 1. Retrieved 2025-03-12.
  4. "Undark and the Radium Girls". Damn Interesting. Retrieved 2025-03-19.