Marie Curie was a pioneer in the study of radiation. She discovered radium and polonium with her husband. They received the prize in physics in 1903, along with Henri Becquerel, and Marie received the prize in chemistry in 1911. Throughout her lifetime, she worked with radium and its various properties. He died of a blood disease due to her work with radioactive materials.
Marya (Manya) Salomee Sklodowska was born in Warsaw, Poland. She had three older sisters and a brother. Her parents ensured that their daughters were educated as well as their son.
The mother of Curie succumbed to Tuberculosis in the 19th century. The death of Marie Curie's mother had a profound impact on her, as she battled depression and changed her views on religion. Goldsmith wrote that Curie wouldn't believe in the benevolence of god again.
At the age of 15, Curie graduated first in her class. The University of Warsaw didn't accept women, but Curie and her older sister did. They had to leave the country to get the education they wanted. At the age of 17, she became a governess to help pay for her sister's medical school tuition. She left for Paris in November of 1891.
When she registered at the Sorbonne in Paris, she changed her name to "Marie" to appear more French. She was at the top of her class and focused. She received a scholarship for Polish students studying abroad. The classes needed to complete her degrees were paid for by the scholarship.
A professor arranged a grant for her to study the magnetic properties of steel. She was in touch with Pierre Curie because of her research project. In 1895, the two were married.
The piezoelectric effect is when electric charges are produced by squeezing or applying mechanical stress to certain crystals, and was discovered by Pierre. He designed instruments for measuring magnetic fields and electricity.
Marie and Pierre Curie are pictured on their honeymoon.
Radioactiveies can be found.
The reports of German physicist Rntgen's discovery of X-rays and of French physicist Henri Becquerel's report of similar "Becquerel rays" were of interest to Curie. Goldsmith said that one of the metal plates was coated with a thin layer of salts. She used the instruments designed by her husband to measure the strength of the rays. The instruments detected faint electrical currents when the air between two metal plates was bombarded with uranium rays. She found that the compounds emitted the same rays. The strength of the rays remained the same regardless of whether the compounds were in solid or liquid state.
More compounds were tested by Curie. She found that pitchblende emitted rays that were stronger than those emitted by pure uranium even after the uranium was removed. She suspected that this was an undiscovered element.
The term "radioactivity" was invented in 1898 by Curie in her seminal paper. Goldsmith notes that Curie made two revolutionary observations in the paper. The discovery of new elements would be made possible by measuring radioactivity. The radioactivity was a property of the atom.
The Curies looked at a lot of pitchblende. The couple came up with new ways to separate the pitchblende into its chemical components. Marie Curie used an iron rod that was nearly as tall as she was to make huge cauldrons.
Two of the chemical components were radioactive, one that was similar to the other. In 1898, the Curies published their conclusion that the compound contained a previously undiscovered radioactive element. By the end of that year, they had isolated a second radioactive element, which they called radium, derived from the Latin word for rays. The Curies announced their success in radium extract.
Marie Curie was the first woman to defend her thesis in France. The Curies, along with Henri Becquerel, were awarded the prize for their contributions to the understanding ofradiation phenomena. Pierre Curie insisted that the original research was his wife's, even though the nominating committee initially objected to including a woman as a prizewinner.
Pierre Curie died in 1906 when he stepped into the street at the same time as a horse-drawn wagon. Marie Curie was the first woman to serve in that role at the Sorbonne, filling his faculty position of professor of general physics.
Marie was awarded a second prize for her discovery of radium and polonium. The "International Year of Chemistry" was declared in honor of the 100th anniversary of her award.
Marie Curie lectured at the Sorbonne in an engraving.
Later years.
As her research got more advanced, her labs became inadequate. Goldsmith said that the Austrian government offered to create a cutting edge lab for Curie. The Pasteur Institute was able to build a radioactivity research lab. By July of 1914, the Institute was almost complete. When World War I broke out in 1914, Curie suspended her research and organized a fleet of mobile X-ray machines for doctors on the front.
She worked hard to raise money for her institute after the war. She was suffering from health issues by 1920, most likely because of her exposure to radioactive materials. On July 4, 1934, Curie died of aplastic anemia, a condition in which the bone marrow fails to produce new blood cells. According to historian Craig Nelson in his book, "The Age of Radiance: The Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era", the doctor who examined Curie concluded that her bone marrow was damaged by a long amount of radiation.
Her husband was buried next to her in Sceaux. Their remains were moved to Paris in 1995 and buried in the Pantheon alongside France's greatest citizens. The 96th element on the periodic table of elements was discovered and named "curium" in 1944, and the Curies received another honor.
There are additional resources.
