AW: [ RadSafe ] This Day In Gadgets: ATMs Were Born Radioactive 40Years Ago

[Franz Schönhofer]

Cary,

You might be interested in another (attempted) use of radionuclides for
stopping falsifications.

More than 30 years ago I visited a collegue in Stockholm, Sweden at the
Kungliga Tekniska Hoegskola (Royal Technical University) and among other
news he told me, that there had been plans to make counterfeiting of
identity cards impossible by adding a small amount of a radionuclide (if I
remember correctly it was an actinium isotope) to the card, which was
afterwards to be sealed. This plan met opposition, but I do not remember
from which side. Greenpeace did not exist then.....

Best regards,

Franz

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im Auftrag
von Cary Renquist
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 27. Juni 2007 17:44
An: RADSAFE List
Betreff: [ RadSafe ] This Day In Gadgets: ATMs Were Born Radioactive 40Years
Ago

<http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/this-day-in-gadgets/atms-were-born-radioactive-4
0-years-ago-272643.php>

ATMs Were Born Radioactive 40 Years Ago 

This is John Shepherd-Barron, the scottish guy who 
invented the first ATM. First installed 40 year ago by
Barclays, it 
worked with Carbon 14-impregnated cheques, the same
radioactive material 
that is used to date fossils. But fret not: not only
it wasn't 
radioactive enough but they were soon replaced by
cards and now even 
dogs can use them. The next step according to him: