The Geiger-Müller counter, a device for detecting ionizing radiation, was developed by Hans Geiger and Walther Müller. While initially a physics tool, it was quickly adapted for uranium prospecting. This instrument launched the modern era of radiometric surveys, allowing geologists to locate radioactive ores with portable equipment.

The Geiger counter's 'click' became the defining sound of the Atomic Age, a metronome of danger and potential. Poets of the Cold War, such as Allen Ginsberg in 'Howl,' used the imagery of 'radioactive' bodies and 'Geiger counters' to invoke the sickness of the military-industrial complex. For environmental poets, the counter symbolized the hidden contamination of uranium mining, making visible (or audible) the invisible threat of radiation, turning the American West into a 'sacrifice zone' that would be central to the ecopoetry of the late 20th century.