>Did they know of radon gas in 1896?
>cp in bc

No, of course not.  Quite right.

Wikipedia says that the element radon, heaviest of the inert gases --
chemically inert, that is, but radioactive --
was discovered in 1900, and named after radium
(which was discovered by Marie Sklodowska-Curie in 1898).

That part seems right.  But then Wikipedia says that
the danger from radon in dwellings was not discovered until 1984.
That can't be right.  I remember that it was always hard for me
to remember why there was more radon in a brick house
than in a wood house; and this goes back many decades.
And Congress added radon abatement to the
Toxic Substances Control Act in 1988.
I wonder if the dangers of radon in homes were known,
or strongly suspected, in the 1960s (guessing), but
that Wikipedia nerds have not found any evidence of that on line.


Martin C. Tangora
University of Illinois at Chicago
[log in to unmask]

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