military entered into a contract with U.S. entered WWI in 1917, soldiers on the front weren't able to see their watch dials at night, which made co-ordinating night attacks more difficult. Source: (1921-08) "The Story of a Great Engineer/Wikimedia Commons WWI Increases Demand Radium patented their radium paint under the name " Undark." 1921 Undark advertisement. The companies mixed radium salts with zinc sulfide and glue to produce glowing paint. There were three companies in the U.S.: United States Radium in Orange, New Jersey, which began around 1917, the Radium Dial Corporation in Ottawa, Illinois, which began in 1922, and the Waterbury Clock Company in Waterbury, Massachusetts. Source: Pulp Librarian/TwitterÄuring radium's heyday, between the years 19, its biggest use was in painting the dials of clocks and watches. * Impotence Treatments - the Radioendocrinator was a booklet that contained cards coated in radium and meant to be worn inside undergarments at night. Curie also marketed cosmetics under the Tho-Radia brand, which promised to brighten and rejuvenate your skin. Alfred Curie, who was no relation to either Marie or Pierre Curie. * Toothpaste - a toothpaste containing both radium and thorium was sold by Dr. * Toys - the Radiumscope was sold until 1942, and it was marketed as a "wonderful" nightlight since it "glows with a weird light in a dark room." * Water - the Revigator was a radium-laced container that stored a gallon of water drinking the water supposedly cured arthritis, impotence, and wrinkles. * Food - the Radium Schokolade chocolate bar manufactured by Burk & Braun, and Radium Bread made with radium water and manufactured by the Hippman-Black bakers. Manufacturers started putting the "miracle" substance into: Source: The Maryland Science Center/Flickr A craze for everything radiumÄ«y the late 1910s, there was a craze for everything radium-related, and for anything "glow-in-the-dark." RELATED: 11 NOTABLE WOMEN SCIENTISTS WHO HAVE WON NOBEL PRIZES IN THEIR FIELDS Marie Curie. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person (and the only woman) to win the Nobel prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields.