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Primary sourcePhotograph

Radon Preparation Room at the Radium Institute, Paris

A historic photograph of the radon preparation room in the radio-physiological laboratory at the Radium Institute founded by Marie Curie.

Shows the specialized radioactivity-handling lab at the institute Curie founded and directed.

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Black and white photograph of a laboratory room with a man in a white coat seated at a wooden table, working on apparatus with glass tubes and metal stands. Shelves with bottles line the right wall, and a tall window is behind the table.
The room for preparing radon at the Radium Institute, Paris, Radio-Physiological Laboratory.

About this source

What it is

This photograph shows the room for preparing radon at the Radium Institute in Paris, part of the Radio-Physiological Laboratory. The original caption identifies equipment including a concrete strong box lined with lead bricks, a vacuum pumping apparatus, and a Macleod gauge.

Why it matters

The Radium Institute was founded around Marie Curie's research, and this image shows the specialized, carefully shielded equipment needed to safely handle radioactive materials like radon in the early twentieth century.

Look closer

  • Why do you think lead bricks and a concrete strong box were needed in this room?
  • What does the labelled equipment tell you about the precision required in radioactivity research?
  • What safety concerns from today's perspective might this image raise, given what we now know about radiation exposure?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marie Curie on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Cover of the January 1904 issue of the magazine Le Radium, showing a printed masthead and a photograph captioned Le Laboratoire de la Rue Lhomond. The photo shows two men and a seated woman among laboratory equipment and glassware, with the caption M. & Mme Curie below.Photograph

Primary source

Photograph of Pierre and Marie Curie in their Laboratory, rue Lhomond

c. 1898-1904

Title page of the 1904 second edition of Recherches sur les substances radioactives by Madame Sklodowska Curie, a thesis presented at the Faculté des Sciences de Paris. Published in Paris by Gauthier-Villars. Handwritten number 5 and a note appear in the top right corner.Book

Primary source

Recherches sur les substances radioactives

Marie Curie · 1904

Document

Primary source

Rayons émis par les composés de l'uranium et du thorium

Marie Curie · 12 April 1898

A museum display case showing a wooden mahogany box with its lid open and a round metal radium container inside, beside a separate lidded metal canister with a brass knob, a key on a chain, and a small cluster of tubes on the glass base.Artifact

Primary source

International Radium Standard

Marie Curie · 1911

Black-and-white photograph of a clear glass vessel with a flared conical bowl, a pouring spout on the left rim, and a short stem on a flat circular foot, set against a plain light background.Artifact

Primary source

Glass beaker used for the first radium salt solution

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