Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

“Unto You Who Fear My Name Shall the Sun of Righteousness Arise With Healing in His Wings”: The Popular Cultural Perceptions of Radium, 1900-1930

Availability

Thesis (Electronic Copy Not Available)

Keywords

Radium--Public opinion; Academic theses

Abstract

This thesis examines the perceptions of radium from 1900 to 1930 within the context of United States popular culture as it channeled through the sub-contexts of religion, nature, science, medicine, industry, and consumerism. Utilizing popular periodicals and scholarly journal articles, it also analyzes why Americans were so fascinated with the element. Given that the majority of scholars who focus on radium limit their scope to the contexts of industry, medicine, and science from 1925 onward, the interest in the element actually preceded the 1920s and transcended those particular fields as made evident by the numerous products and publications that featured it. The result of the pervasive interest in radium that surpassed the contexts of industry, medicine, and science, as this thesis argues, was a multi-contextual phenomenon that enveloped the element. The cultural perceptions of radium stemming from religion, nature, science, medicine, industry, and consumerism coalesced to conceive an intricate and dominant understanding of radium as it applied to the popular culture of the early twentieth century.

Year of Submission

2013

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of History

First Advisor

Brian Roberts

Second Advisor

John D. Baskerville

Third Advisor

Charlotte Wells

Date Original

2013

Object Description

1 PDF file (133 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Electronic copy is not available through UNI ScholarWorks.

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