The article gives me the impression that the Curies' medical knowledge was primitive or nonexistent by today's standards. It makes it seem like they thought radiation would just magically cure cancer, like a philosopher's stone.
Does anyone know if this is correct? The article mentions that they knew radiation would kill tumors; did they know it just killed everything, but would kill the thing it was closest to fastest, or did they think it had magical specificity? Perey noted that francium would accumulate in tumors; did she know that tumors have faster metabolisms (the basis of a lot of treatments today) or did she think it had magical tumor seeking properties? If they were in fact ignorant by today's standards, were they ignorant by their own's?
