Carter Roy

Cecil Drinker, the Harvard scientist who found radium in dozens of dust samples from the factory, refuses to testify.

So does Dr. Harrison Martland, the pathologist who developed tests to detect radium in living people.

Now, it's not clear exactly why the scientists refused.

Maybe they were intimidated by USRC.

Maybe they just didn't want to get involved.

Either way,

They were Barry's smoking guns.

He needs an expert to testify that the factory caused the girls to develop radium poisoning.

And he needs one fast, because the five plaintiffs have just been given only months to live.

And luckily, he finds a physicist named Elizabeth Hughes.

She's trained in Dr. Martland's methods.

She knows how to measure radiation.

Using an electroscope, she tests the breath of all five women.

She confirms exactly what Dr. Martland found, that the girls ingested so much radium at the factory that

that their breath is radioactive.

More importantly, she's willing to testify.

On the witness stand, Hughes explains something that has yet to be made public.

At almost every other research institution, scientists are required to follow strict safety protocols when handling radioactive materials.

They have to wear protective gear and use forceps to grab the radium.

At USRC, the women not only weren't protected, but they were encouraged to put the radium in their mouths.