World's 'Most Dangerous Toy' Goes on Display in Ulster Museum
A children’s science set which was once described as the world’s most dangerous toy has gone on display in the Elements exhibition at the Ulster Museum.
Only available between 1951 and 1952, the ‘Gilbert Atomic Energy Lab’ was the most elaborate atomic energy educational set ever produced and retailed for a relatively high price, at the time, of $50.
Billed “for the junior scientist” and performing over 150 experiments, the set came with four types of uranium ore and three different radiation sources (alpha, beta and gamma). A spinthariscope and a cloud chamber would reveal the speeding particles produced by atomic disintegration, while a Geiger counter could perhaps be used to detect how contaminated the young scientist had become.
Ironically, NI Safety Group came into being in 1953.
Read more about the toy here.
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