Chemists -- France -- Biography; Curie, Pierre, 1859-1906; Physicists -- France -- Biography
A new laboratory has been created at Washington for researches on very
low temperatures with the use of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium. I
had the honor of dedicating this laboratory to its service.
I had the great pleasure of meeting in their laboratories several very
important American scientific men. The hours I spent in their company
are among the best of my travel.
The United States possesses several hospitals for radiumtherapy. These
hospitals are generally provided with laboratories for the extraction of
radium emanation which is sealed up in small tubes for medical use.
These institutions own important quantities of radium, have a very good
equipment, and treat a great number of patients. I have visited some of
them, and this made me feel more deeply, if possible, the regret of not
having in France even one national institute capable of rendering the
same services. I hope that this lack will be filled in the near future.
The industry of radium has been started in France, but it is in America
that it has had its greatest development, owing to the presence of a
sufficient supply of the ore carnotite.[15] I was very much interested
in my visit to the most important of the factories, and I gladly
recognize the spirit of initiative in this undertaking. The factory owns
a collection of documentary films which enable one to appreciate the
effort made each day in collecting the ore scattered in the immense
fields of Colorado, in carrying and concentrating this ore originally
very poor in radium. On the other hand, the means of extraction of
radium are still the same which have been described in earlier chapters.
The greatest courtesy was paid me in my visit to the radium plant and
laboratory. I found the same reception at a factory of mesothorium which
presented me with some material, and where the officials expressed the
desire to help in my scientific work.
To make complete these travel impressions it would be necessary to speak
of the nature of the country. I recoil before the task, being incapable
of expressing in a few words the immensity and the variety of the spaces
which opened before my eyes. The general impression is one of unlimited
possibilities for the future. I keep a particularly vivid remembrance of
the great falls of Niagara, and of the magnificent colors of the Grand
Canyon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account