A Ray of Hope? The Institut du Radium de Montréal Against Cancer

In 1922, the founding of the Institut du radium de Montréal was greeted with huge enthusiasm. As Quebec’s first university research centre, the Institut was a sign the province had joined the great march of Western scientific progress. At the time, radium was seen as a crucial discovery that would revolutionize the future. In medicine, it was hoped that radium would lead to the development of an effective treatment for the terrible disease of cancer. Unfortunately, the Institut du radium failed to live up to its initial promises and, in 1967, quietly closed its doors.