The 50′s – Golden Age of Childhood
Did you get to play with radioactive material when you where a kid? No? I bet you didn’t even get to use real scissors until you graduated from highschool. Well, in an bygone era filled with cold-war ferver, you could have experienced such wonders. Behold: the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab! This was apparently a government ploy to con youngsters into prospecting for uranium, and farm the next generation of nuclear masterminds.
“This was the most elaborate Atomic Energy educational set ever produced, but it was only only available from 1951 to 1952. Its relatively high price for the time ($50.00) and its sophistication were the explanation Gilbert gave for the set’s short lifespan. Today, it is so highly prized by collectors that a complete set can go for more than 100 times the original price. The set came with four types of uranium ore, a beta-alpha source (Pb-210), a pure beta source (Ru-106), a gamma source (Zn-65?), a spinthariscope, a cloud chamber with its own short-lived alpha source (Po-210), an electroscope, a geiger counter, a manual, a comic book (Dagwood Splits the Atom) and a government manual “Prospecting for Uranium.”And to think, I had to wait until I was 8 just to get a lousy pocket-knife! Where do I sign up?
