Rebecca Abergel1,2, John Aris3, Wesley E Bolch3, Shaheen A Dewji4, Ashley Golden5, David A Hooper6, Dmitri Margot4, Carly G Menker7, Tatjana Paunesku7, Dörthe Schaue8, Gayle E Woloschak7. 1. Nuclear Engineering Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. 2. Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA. 3. J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. 4. Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics Programs, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA. 5. Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge, TN, USA. 6. Nuclear Nonproliferation Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA. 7. Departments of Radiation Oncology, Radiology, and Cell and Molecular Biology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. 8. Department of Radiation Oncology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Abstract
PURPOSE: This review is focused on radium and radionuclides in its decay chain in honor of Marie Curie, who discovered this element. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conglomerated current knowledge regarding radium and its history predating our present understanding of this radionuclide. RESULTS: An overview of the properties of radium and its dose assessment is shown followed by discussions about both the negative detrimental and positive therapeutic applications of radium with this history and its evolution reflecting current innovations in medical science. CONCLUSIONS: We hope to remind all those who are interested in the progress of science about the vagaries of the process of scientific discovery. In addition, we raise the interesting question of whether Marie Curie's initial success was in part possible due to her tight alignment with her husband Pierre Curie who pushed the work along.
PURPOSE: This review is focused on radium and radionuclides in its decay chain in honor of Marie Curie, who discovered this element. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conglomerated current knowledge regarding radium and its history predating our present understanding of this radionuclide. RESULTS: An overview of the properties of radium and its dose assessment is shown followed by discussions about both the negative detrimental and positive therapeutic applications of radium with this history and its evolution reflecting current innovations in medical science. CONCLUSIONS: We hope to remind all those who are interested in the progress of science about the vagaries of the process of scientific discovery. In addition, we raise the interesting question of whether Marie Curie's initial success was in part possible due to her tight alignment with her husband Pierre Curie who pushed the work along.