Ebenezer McBurney Byers (April 12, 1880 – March 31, 1932) was an American

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

, sportsman, and

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

. He won the 1906

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

in golf. He died from jawbone cancer after consuming 1400 bottles of Radithor, a

patent medicine A patent medicine (sometimes called a proprietary medicine) is a non-prescription medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name, and claimed to be effective against minor disorders a ...

made from

radium Radium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in alkaline earth metal, group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, ...

salts dissolved in water.

Biography

The son of industrialist Alexander Byers, Eben Byers was educated at St. Paul's School and

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

. He earned a reputation as a sportsman and played on the Yale Bulldogs golf team. Byers was the

golf champion of 1906, after finishing runner-up in 1902 and 1903. Byers eventually became the chairman of the Girard Iron Company, which had been created by his father. In 1927, Byers injured his arm falling from a railway sleeping berth. For the persistent pain, a doctor suggested he take Radithor, a

manufactured by William J. A. Bailey. Bailey was a

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

dropout who falsely claimed to be a doctor of medicine and had become rich from the sale of Radithor, a solution of radium in water which he claimed stimulated the

endocrine system The endocrine system is a messenger system in an organism comprising feedback loops of hormones that are released by internal glands directly into the circulatory system and that target and regulate distant Organ (biology), organs. In vertebrat ...

. He offered physicians a 1/6 kickback on each dose prescribed. Byers began taking several doses of Radithor per day, believing it gave him a "toned-up feeling", but stopped in October 1930 (after taking some 1400 doses) when that effect faded. He lost weight and had headaches, and his teeth began to fall out. In 1931, the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

asked him to testify about his experience, but he was too sick to travel, so the commission sent a lawyer to take his statement at his home; the lawyer reported that Byers's "whole upper jaw, excepting two front teeth and most of his lower jaw had been removed" and that "All the remaining bone tissue of his body was disintegrating, and holes were actually forming in his skull." His death on March 31, 1932, was attributed to "radiation poisoning" using the terminology of the time, but it was due to cancers, not

acute radiation syndrome Acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation sickness or radiation poisoning, is a collection of health effects that are caused by being exposed to high amounts of ionizing radiation in a short period of time. Symptoms can start wit ...

. Radium is known to emit alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. While alpha radiation has low penetrating ability and typically does not present a danger, ingestion of radium in the form of Radithor allowed accumulation in the bones. Without shielding provided by the skin, the highly ionizing alpha radiation was able to cause localized cell damage on an extreme level, and this is ultimately what led to Byers's cancer and death. He is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, in a lead-lined coffin.

Legacy

Byers's death received much publicity and it heightened awareness of the dangers of radioactive "cures". The

issued an order against Bailey's business to "cease and desist from various representations theretofore made by them as to the therapeutic value of Radithor and from representing that the product Radithor is harmless". He later founded the "Radium Institute" in New York and marketed a radioactive belt-clip, a radioactive paperweight, and a mechanism which purported to make water radioactive. After exhuming Byers's body in 1965, MIT physicist Robley Evans estimated Byers's total

intake as about 1000 μ Ci (37 M Bq), with about half from Ra-226 and the other half from the highly radioactive mesothorium (Ra-228). Dr. Evans also studied radium dial painters and was able to study one whose intake was similar to, but somewhat higher than Byers's.

Major championships

Amateur wins

Results timeline

''Note: Byers died before the founding of the

Masters Tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week in April, the Masters is the ...

, and never played in

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

. As an amateur, he could not play in the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. The PGA is one of the four men's major golf champi ...

.''
NT = No tournament
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play Source for U.S. Amateur
USGA Championship Database
Source for 1904 British Amateur
Golf, July 1904, pg. 6.
Source for 1907 British Amateur
The Glasgow Herald, May 29, 1907, pg. 12.

Biography

Legacy

Major championships

Amateur wins

Results timeline

See also

References

Further reading