Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab

Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab

Science -- Experiments -- Juvenile

Science -- Experiments -- Study and teaching

Chemistry -- Experiments

Science -- Study and teaching

Science -- Laboratory manuals

Science -- Equipment and supplies

A. C. Gilbert Company

The Atomic Energy Lab was the most elaborate “atomic” educational set ever produced for children and was commercialized from 1950 to 1951. The kit was envisioned as a fun toy to teach young people about nuclear and chemical reactions using radioactive materials. It was marketed to parents as a way to direct their children toward a potential career in science and engineering. In 2006, it was dubbed by Radar Magazine as “the world’s most dangerous toy”.

Contains: a battery-powered Geiger-Müller counter, an electroscope, a spinthariscope, a cloud chamber with its own short-lived alpha source (Po-210) in the form of a wire, four glass jars containing natural uranium-bearing (U238) ore samples, low-level radiation sources (a beta-alpha source (Pb-210), a pure beta source (possibly Ru-106), a gamma source (Zn-65)), “nuclear spheres” for making a model of an alpha particle, three C batteries, a Gilbert toy catalog, a Gilbert Atomic Energy Manual, a comic book called Learn How Dagwood Splits the Atom, and a government manual entitled Prospecting for Uranium

A. C. Gilbert Company

https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/toys/gilbert-u-238-atomic-energy-lab.html

1950-1951

Government of the United States, King Features Syndicate, and Geiger-Müller.

Container of the government manual "Prospecting for Uranium."

Container of the comic book Dagwood Splits the Atom: https://omeka.ischool.utoronto.ca/admin/items/show/606.

Container of the booklet manual Prospecting for Uranium: https://omeka.ischool.utoronto.ca/admin/items/show/608.

Lab kit case of 25in x 16.5in x 5.0in

eng

Educational lab kit for children and youth