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Book Details Tragic Story Of "Shining Girls" Poisoned By Radium

Author Kate Moore will speak on Monday May 15 at 7 p.m. at the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque about her book “Radium Girls: The Dark Story Of America’s Shining Women.” It tells the story of the women employed to paint watches and clocks with radium-based paint, starting in World War I. At the time radium was considered a miracle element that many touted would improve health. These women became the first proof of just how deadly radium was. Moore delves into their stories and how their quest for recognition and compensation helped protect future generations of workers in the nuclear industry, including those at the Manhattan Project in New Mexico.  

Megan has been a journalist for 25 years and worked at business weeklies in San Antonio, New Orleans and Albuquerque. She first came to KUNM as a phone volunteer on the pledge drive in 2005. That led to volunteering on Women’s Focus, Weekend Edition and the Global Music Show. She was then hired as Morning Edition host in 2015, then the All Things Considered host in 2018. Megan was hired as News Director in 2021.
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  • In the 1920s, working-class women were hired to paint radium onto glowing watch dials — and told to sharpen the brush with their lips. Dozens died within a few years, but Keane quit, and survived.