Poisonous Polonium 210

This radioactive mystery event brings you together with experts to investigate the element polonium in informal discussion groups.

We’ll examine polonium’s meteoric rise to infamy from its first victim to its latest. Discuss the profile of this poison, its mode of operation and how contamination is cleaned up.

One of the six metalloids on the periodic table, in a class that includes the more familiar poison arsenic, polonium has an array of isotopes, some more lethal than the rest…

Reflect on the Litvinenko case with Mike Clark and Nick Priest. Mike will outline the work the Health Protection Agency has carried out directly as a result of Alexander Litvinenko's poisoning. Nick's work with the Radiological Protection Board has given him first-hand experience of polonium-210, and he’ll be addressing its effect inside the body.

Nuclear physicist Paddy Regan from the University of Surrey will describe potential sources of polonium-210 and outline some of its other uses. From old nuclear triggers to removing static, where might the poison come from?

How radioactive is your environment? Professor of Human Radiation Effects Dennis Henshawe will talk about the natural distribution of other polonium isotopes in the environment and within the body, and how these arise in nature.

This event marks the centenary of the death of periodic table founder Dmitri Mendeleyev.

Event organised by:
The Science Museum

Speakers

Mike Clark, Science spokesperson, Health Protection Agency
Dennis Henshawe, Professor of Human Radiation Effects, University of Bristol
Nick Priest, Professor of Environmental Toxicology, University of Middlesex
Paddy Regan, Reader in Nuclear Physics, University of Surrey

Facilitator:
Anjana Ahuja, The Times