Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"My father was a master mechanic; I grew up with a screwdriver in one hand and a pair of pliers in the other."
- Frank Herbert
 |
| Radium Salt | ||
| Radioactive materials used as an assassination weapon. |
| And calmly the drunk [Earthman] took one of the exquisite Venusian flame orchids from the center vase, salted it, and began to eat it...
The man's lax handsome face was contorting now in agony, his eyes protruding, his body arched half out of his chair, his hands clawing the air... "Don't touch him with your bare hands!" Crane cried. For the body of the poisoned man was beginning to glow faintly, his face giving off a feeble, eery white light! "This man was poisoned with a super-powerful radium salt," Rab Crane declared to the horrified officers. "He died instantly in awful agony and his whole body is charged with radioactive force now and will have to be handled with lead gloves. Someone substituted the radium salt for the ordinary salt in this salt shaker." |
| Technovelgy from Murder in the Void,
by Edmond Hamilton. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1938 Additional resources -
|
As far as I know, this is an early reference to the idea of using radioactive materials as assassination weapons. The first person probably killed this way was Russian journalist Yuri Shchekochikhin in 2003. He was investigating the Russian secret service and died several days before a planned trip to the US to meet with the FBI; the symptoms of his fatal illness fit the pattern of poisoning by radioactive materials.
Radioactive "salts" really do exist. Radium bromide is the bromide salt of radium. It is produced during the separation of radium from uranium ore. It was discovered by Pierre and Marie Curie in 1898 and gave great hope to those who were interested in using radioactive substances in medicine, because the compound is relatively stable (unlike radium, which oxidises rapidly in the open air, and decomposes quickly in water).
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Murder in the Void
More Ideas
and Technology by Edmond Hamilton
Tech news articles related to Murder in the Void
Tech news articles related to works by Edmond Hamilton
Radium Salt-related
news articles:
- Arafat Poisoned With Polonium?
| Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade |
| Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones |
| China's Handheld Electromagnetic Gun |
| Is The Seattle Ultrasonics C-200 A Heinlein Vibroblade? |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.'
