And it can take up to year to succumb to the effects of dimethylmercury, depending on how one is exposed to it. If any drops touched the student, life expectancy is as few as two weeks or maybe up to six months.
Dimethylmercury was first discovered by the chemist (Sir) Edward Frankland in 1865. He lost two members of his laboratory who tried to clean up a small spill of the stuff they had created. One lived two weeks before succumbing to the exposure. The other died almost a year later after experiencing the same symptoms from being poisoned by it: slurred speech, degrading motor skills, coma, and death.
Frankland ultimately invented devices to build a system of creating synthetic compounds without exposure to the open air and to contain such compounds if they somehow leaked during the synthesizing process. Modern chemistry is built upon his pioneering discoveries and inventions.
…As I have just learned through light internet researches relating to this article this morning! It’s a fascinating topic!
It’s a little unsettling to learn the broad similarities that radiological and organometallic poisoning have in common: death after exposure over the course of weeks and months while initially showing no immediate sign of ill effects.