Mar 25
Heartland Film Indianapolis, IN
TicketsBarrett S. Caldwell, PhD
Professor of Industrial Engineering and Aeronautics & Astronautics, Purdue University
Radium Girls— Price of progress
Program Description
The story of Radium Girls, as presented in the movie and book, helps to teach us about the development of science and technology policy in a social context, including the social costs of technological naivete and organizational callousness. We may forget how our current environment of oversight and regulation is built on the bodies of past abuses, but the personalization of the workers in New Jersey and Illinois helps us remember these painful lessons.
This event is part of our 2025 National Evening of Science on Screen.
Film Synopsis
When mysterious ailments strike a dial painter at American Radium, a dark truth emerges: She is not the first in the watch factory to fall ill. Her sister's legal fight against the corporation in 1928 launched workplace safety reforms and closer study of the dangers of radioactivity.
Based on true events of the 1920’s, Radium Girls stars Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Joey King and Abby Quinn as Bessie and Jo Cavallo, sisters who dream of Hollywood and Egyptian pyramids as they work painting luminous watch dials at the American Radium factory in New Jersey. When Jo loses a tooth, Bessie’s world is turned upside down as a mystery slowly unravels. She discovers a corporate cover-up and, in a radical coming-of-age story, Bessie and the Radium Girls decide to take on American Radium. Based on historical events, the national sensation following the notorious case of the Radium Girls in 1928 ultimately led to significant and lasting impact in the area of workplace health and safety and the study of radioactivity.
Radium Girls marks the feature directorial debuts of Emmy-winning and Academy-Award nominated producer Lydia Dean Pilcher and filmmaker Ginny Mohler, who co-wrote the award-winning original screenplay for Radium Girls with Brittany Shaw. The film made its world premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.
Banner image courtesy of Juno Films
About the Speaker
Barrett S. Caldwell, PhD is Professor of Industrial Engineering, and Aeronautics & Astronautics, at Purdue. He has a PhD (Univ. of California, Davis, 1990) in Social Psychology, and BS degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Humanities (MIT, 1985). His research team is the Group Performance Environments Research (GROUPER) Laboratory. GROUPER examines and improves how people get, share, and use information in settings including aviation, critical incident response, healthcare, and spaceflight operations. His CV includes over 50 peer reviewed journal papers, over 150 peer reviewed conference papers, and over 15 book chapters addressing multiple areas of human factors and systems engineering.