Spinthariscope
date: label: date made
content: early 20th century
notes: label: Description
content: A spinthariscope consists of a fluorescent screen, a magnifying eyepiece, and a speck of radium. Looking through the eyepiece, one sees scintillations caused by alpha particles from the radium hitting the screen. William Crookes, a prominent English chemist, designed the form in 1903, coined the term (deriving it from the Greek word for scintillation), and arranged for its manufacture. The Smithsonian bought one spinthariscope in 1903, and received another from Crookes in 1913. This is one of those instruments. The inscription reads “SPINTHARISCOPE / W. CROOKES / 1903 / R. & J. BECK LTD LONDON.”
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London
topic: label: Subject
content: Science & Scientific Instruments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.316649
label: catalog number
content: 316649
label: accession number
content: 226637
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Spinthariscope
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/2 in x 1 3/16 in; 3.81 cm x 3.01625 cm