The phrase NUCLEAR RADIATION conjures up pretty fearful images these days - reactor meltdowns at Chernobyl and Fukushima, the dead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the three-eyed fish of The Simpsons.
But for a brief window in the 1950s a movement of people sought to harness the power of the atom not for weapons or energy - but for ever better... garden crops!
We explore the Atomic Gardening Society!
The Wholesome Show is Dr Rod Lamberts (@rodl) and Dr Will Grant (@willozap), proudly supported by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (@ANU_CPAS)
---------------------
References:
http://pruned.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/atomic-gardens.html
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0734151032000123936?needAccess=true
“Safeguarding the atom: the nuclear enthusiasm of Muriel Howorth”[1]
The British J for the History of science Volume 45, Issue 4 (Special Issue: British Nuclear Culture), December 2012 , pp. 551-571
http://www.atomicgardening.com/1950/02/18/isotopia-an-exposition-on-atomic-structure-by-muriel-howorth/
http://www.atomicgardening.com/1959/02/19/atomic-peanuts/
http://www.atomicgardening.com/1960/02/21/the-atomic-gardening-society/
http://www.atomicgardening.com/1966/03/01/whatever-happened-to-the-atomic-garden/
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/03/atomic-gardening-breeding-plants-with.html