Radiumforschung

Radium research: Soon after radium was discovered (by P. and M. Curie in 1898), L. C. Haitinger started the production of radium at the Auer Factory in Atzgersdorf near Vienna. H. Mache, S. Meyer and M. Bamberger examined the emanation content of Austrian mineral springs; radium and other similar elements which were necessary for research came from St. Joachimsthal (now Jachymev, Czech Republic). Austria supported many foreign scientists (e.g. the Curies) by providing them with supplies of inexpensive radium. In 1901 the Austrian Academy of Sciences set up a commission for the study of radioactive substances. The lawyer K. Kupelwieser made a donation which made it possible to set up the Institute of Radium Research in Vienna in 1910, where important contributions to radium research were accomplished; from 1920 to 1938 17 foreign scientists worked at this institute. The Institute of Radium Research in Vienna cooperates closely with the Research Institute in Bad Gastein (Salzburg), which was established in 1936, and with the Second Institute of Physics at the University of Vienna.

Literature: S. Meyer, Die Vorgeschichte der Gründung und das erste Jahrzehnt des Inst. für Radiumforschung, 1950; K. Przibram, Das Institut für Radiumforschung 1920-38, 1950; B. Karlik, Das Institut für Radiumforschung 1938-50, 1950; R. Schlögl, Gespräch mit Dr. F. Hernegger, 2 vols., 1991.