Category Archives: The Poisoner’s Handbook

The Science of Mysteries: An Overdose of Strychnine

By Deborah Blum
Posted: January 30, 2012

Category: murder mystery, poison, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged Agatha Christie, Ann Finkbeiner, arsenic, Dorothy L. Sayers, Hercule Poirot, Jennifer Ouellette, Science of Mysteries, Strong Poison, strychnine, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Thomas Neil Cream, William Palmer | 15 Comments

The Pet Poisoner Next Door

By Deborah Blum
Posted: January 9, 2012

Category: poison, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged animal abuse, animal poisoning, antifreeze, Bombshock, cat poisoning, CCAP, dog poisoning, ethlyene glycol, Humane Society, John Rennie, Myrtle Maly, Nico Dauphine, Pet-Abuse.com, strychinine, Washington Humane Society | 143 Comments

Periodic craziness

By Deborah Blum
Posted: December 4, 2011

Category: chemistry, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged chemistry, Hugh Aldersley-Williams, lead, Marie Curie, Periodic Tales, polonium, radiation, radium, Sam Kean, thallium, The Disappearing Spoon, The Elements, The Elements (song), The Periodic Table of Elements, The Poisoner's Handbook, The Radium Girls, Theodore Gray | 17 Comments

Of Dead Bodies and Dirty Streets

By Deborah Blum
Posted: August 25, 2011

Category: lead, science history, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged Alexander Gettler, Charles Norris, Dupont, ethyl gasoline, lead poisoning, leaded gasoline, loony gas, New York City Medical Examiner's Office, Standard Oil, Tetraethyl Lead, Thomas Midgley Jr. | 27 Comments

At the Door of the Loony Gas Building

By Deborah Blum
Posted: August 24, 2011

Category: consumer protection, lead, science history, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged Alexander Gettler, Charles Kettering, Charles Norris, Dupont, Jr., lead poisoning, leaded gasoline, loony gas, New York City Medical Examiner's Office, Standard Oil, Tetraethyl Lead, Thomas Midgley | 17 Comments

An Almost Perfect Murder

By Deborah Blum
Posted: August 9, 2011

Category: carbon monoxide, methane, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged Alexander Gettler, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, Charles Norris, forensic toxicology, hydrogen, Leah Friendlich, methane, murder, New York City Medical Examiner's Office, Tenement Museum, The Poisoner's Handbook | 7 Comments

A lost girl, remembered

By Deborah Blum
Posted: May 1, 2011

Category: arsenic, poison, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged antimony, arsenic, cyanide, Fowler's Solution, Lillian Goetz, New York history, poison murder, Rough on Rats, Shelbourne Restaurant, strychnine, The Poisoner's Handbook | 16 Comments

A Dazzle in the Bones

By Deborah Blum
Posted: March 26, 2011

Category: radium, science history, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged Alexander Gettler, alpha radiation, dial workers, Harrison S. Martland, New York City Medical Examiner's Office, radiation exposure, radioactivity, radium, Radium Girls, The Poisoner's Handbook, U.S. Radium Corporation | 31 Comments

Life in the Undark

By Deborah Blum
Posted: March 25, 2011

Category: radium, science history, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged alpha radiation, beta radiation, Consumers Union of New Jersey, gamma radiation, Harrison S. Martland, Japan, Marie Curie, nuclear power, polonium, radioactivity, radon, The Poisoner's Handbook, The Radium Girls, U.S. Radium Corporation, uranium | 8 Comments

The Radium Girls

By Deborah Blum
Posted: March 24, 2011

Category: radium, science history, Speakeasy Science, The Poisoner's Handbook | Tagged 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics, Alexander Gettler, Charles Norris, Harrison S. Martland, Henri Becquerel, Marie Curie, N.J., New York City Medical Examiner's Office, nuclear, Orange, Pierre Curie, polonium, radioactivity, radium, The Radium Girls, U.S. Radium Corporation, uranium | 19 Comments