Polonium subjects were chosen because experimenters wanted persons who had not been exposed to polonium either through work or accident. All subjects had incurable diseases. Excretion of polonium was followed, and an autopsy was conducted at that time on the deceased patient to determine which organs absorbed the polonium. Patients' ages ranged from 'early thirties' to 'early forties'. The experiments were described in Chapter 3 of Biological Studies with Polonium, Radium, and Plutonium, National Nuclear Energy Series, Volume VI-3, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1950. Not specified is the isotope under study, but at the time polonium-210 was the most readily available polonium
Discover: The World of Science Discover: The World of Science Discover: The World of Science is an American television show that ran between 1983 and 1990. Actor Peter Graves is the on-camera host and narrator of "Discover: The World of Science", a monthly, one-hour magazine-style television series which provides a human perspective on new developments in robots, science, technology, medicine, the environment, behavior and natural history. The series was typically broadcast on Wednesday evenings at 8 PM on PBS. The series, with early episodes being underwritten by Atari and later episodes being underwritten by GTE, was produced by Chedd-Angier Productions in association with Discover Magazine.