Back at the beginning of the 20th century, before the First World War, when time passed calmly and slowly, ladies wore corsets, and women who were already married had to maintain decency (keep house and stay at home), Curie Marie was awarded two Nobel Prizes: in 1908 - in physics, in 1911 - in chemistry. She did a lot of things first, but perhaps the most important thing is that Maria made a real revolution in public consciousness. Women after her boldly went into science, without fear of ridicule from the scientific community, which at that time consisted of men. Marie Curie was an amazing person. The biography below will convince you of this.
Origin
This woman’s maiden name was Sklodowska. Her father, Vladislav Sklodovsky, graduated from St. Petersburg University. He then returned to Warsaw to teach mathematics and physics at the gymnasium. His wife, Bronislava, ran a boarding school where high school girls studied. She helped her husband in everything and was a passionate reader. In total there were five children in the family. Maria Sklodowska-Curie (Manya, as she was called in childhood) is the youngest.
Warsaw childhood
Her entire childhood was spent with her mother coughing. Bronislava suffered from tuberculosis. She died when Maria was only 11 years old. All the Sklodovsky children were distinguished by their curiosity and ability to learn, and Manya simply could not be torn away from the book. The father encouraged a passion for learning in his children as best he could. The only thing that upset the family was the need to study in Russian. In the photo above is the house in which Maria was born and spent her childhood. Now there is a museum here.
The situation in Poland
Poland at that time was part of the Russian Empire. Therefore, all gymnasiums were controlled by Russian officials, who ensured that all subjects were taught in the language of this empire. The children even had to read in Russian, and not in their native language, in which they prayed and spoke at home. Vladislav often got upset because of this. After all, sometimes a student capable of mathematics, who perfectly solved various problems in Polish, suddenly became “stupid” when it was necessary to switch to Russian, which he did not speak well. Having seen all these humiliations since childhood, Maria throughout her future life, however, like the rest of the inhabitants of the state, which was being torn apart at that time, was a fierce patriot, as well as a conscientious member of the Parisian Polish community.
Sisters' Persuasion
It was not easy for the girl to grow up without a mother. Dad, always busy at work, pedantic teachers at the gymnasium... Manya was best friends with Bronya, her sister. They agreed as teenagers that they would definitely study further, after graduating from high school. In Warsaw, higher education was impossible for women at that time, so they dreamed of the Sorbonne. The agreement was as follows: Bronya would be the first to start her studies, since she was older. And Manya will earn money for her education. When she learns to be a doctor, Manya will immediately begin studying, and her sister will help her as best she can. However, it turned out that the dream of Paris had to be postponed for almost 5 years.
Work as a governess
Manya became a governess on the Shchuka estate, to the children of a wealthy local landowner. The owners did not appreciate the bright mind of this girl. At every step they made her understand that she was just a poor servant. Life was not easy for the girl in Shchuki, but she endured for the sake of Bronya. Both sisters graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal. Brother Jozef (also, by the way, a gold medalist) went to Warsaw, enrolling in the Faculty of Medicine. Elya also received a medal, but her claims were more modest. She decided to stay with her father and run the household. The 4th sister in the family died as a child while her mother was still alive. In general, Vladislav could rightfully be proud of his remaining children.
First lover
Maria's employers had five children. She taught the younger ones, but Kazimierz, the eldest son, often came for the holidays. He noticed such an unusual governess. She was very independent. In addition, which was very unusual for a girl of that time, she ran on skates, handled oars well, skillfully drove a carriage and rode horseback. And, as she later admitted to Kazimierz, she really loved to write poetry, as well as read books on mathematics, which seemed like poetry to her.
After some time, a platonic feeling arose between the young people. Manya was plunged into despair by the fact that his lover’s arrogant parents would never allow him to connect his fate with the governess. Kazimierz came for the summer holidays and holidays, and the rest of the time the girl lived in anticipation of a meeting. But now the time has come to quit and go to Paris. Manya left Shchuki with a heavy heart - Kazimierz and the years illuminated by her first love remained in the past.
Then, when Pierre Curie appears in the life of 27-year-old Maria, she will immediately understand that he will become her faithful husband. Everything will be different in his case - without wild dreams and outbursts of feelings. Or maybe Maria will just get older?
Device in Paris
The girl arrived in France in 1891. Bronia and her husband, Kazimierz Dlusski, who also worked as a doctor, began to take care of her. However, the determined Maria (in Paris she began to call herself Marie) opposed this. She rented a room on her own and also enrolled at the Sorbonne, in the Faculty of Science. Marie settled in the Latin Quarter in Paris. Libraries, laboratories and a university were located next to it. Dlussky helped his wife’s sister transport modest belongings on a handcart. Marie resolutely refused to move in with any girl in order to pay less for the room - she wanted to study late and in silence. Its budget in 1892 was 40 rubles, or 100 francs per month, i.e., a little over 3 francs daily. And it was necessary to pay for room, clothes, food, books, notebooks and university tuition... The girl cut down on food. And since she studied very hard, she soon fainted right in class. A classmate ran to ask the Dlusskys for help. And they again took Marie in so that she could pay less for housing and eat normally.
Meet Pierre
One day, Marie’s classmate invited her to visit a famous physicist from Poland. Then the girl first saw the man with whom she was later destined to win world fame. At that time, the girl was 27, and Pierre was 35 years old. When Marie entered the living room, he was standing in the opening of the balcony. The girl tried to look at him, and the sun blinded her. This is how Maria Sklodowska and Pierre Curie met.
Pierre was devoted to science with all his soul. His parents had already tried several times to introduce him to a girl, but always in vain - they all seemed uninteresting, stupid and petty to him. And that evening, after talking with Marie, he realized that he had found an equal interlocutor. At that time, the girl was carrying out work ordered by her from the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry on the magnetic properties of different grades of steel. Marie had just begun research in Lipmann's laboratory. And Pierre, who worked at the School of Physics and Chemistry, already had research on magnetism and even discovered “Curie’s law” behind him. The young people had a lot to talk about. Pierre was so carried away by Marie that early in the morning he went to the fields to pick daisies for his beloved.
Wedding
Pierre and Marie got married on July 14, 1895 and went to Ile-de-France on their honeymoon. Here they read, rode bicycles, and discussed scientific topics. Pierre even began to learn Polish to please his young wife...
Fateful acquaintance
By the time Irene, their first daughter, was born, Marie’s husband had already defended his doctoral dissertation, and his wife graduated first in her class from the Sorbonne University. At the end of 1897, the research on magnetism was completed, and Curie Marie began to look for a topic for her dissertation. At this time, the couple met a physicist. He discovered a year ago that uranium compounds emit radiation that penetrates deeply. It was, unlike X-ray, an internal property of uranium. Curie Marie, fascinated by the mysterious phenomenon, decided to study it. Pierre put aside his work in order to help his wife.
First discoveries and Nobel Prize award
Pierre and Marie Curie discovered 2 new elements in 1898. They named the first of them polonium (in honor of Marie's homeland, Poland), and the second - radium. Since they did not isolate either element, they could not provide evidence of their existence to chemists. And for the next 4 years, the couple extracted radium and polonium from Pierre and Marie Curie, working from morning to night in a cracked barn, exposed to radiation. The couple suffered burns before realizing the dangers of the research. However, they decided to continue them! The couple received 1/10 of a gram of radium chloride in September 1902. But they were unable to isolate polonium - as it turned out, it was a decay product of radium. The heat and bluish glow were emitted by the radium salt. This fantastic substance has attracted the attention of the whole world. In December 1903, the couple was awarded, jointly with Becquerel, the Nobel Prize in Physics. Curie Marie became the first woman to receive it!
Losing my husband
Their second daughter, Eva, was born to them in December 1904. By that time, the family's financial situation had improved significantly. Pierre became a professor of physics at the Sorbonne, and his wife worked for her husband as the head of a laboratory. A terrible event occurred in April 1906. Pierre was hit and killed by the crew. Marie Sklodowska-Curie, having lost her husband, colleague and best friend, fell into depression for several months.
Second Nobel Prize
However, life went on. The woman concentrated all her efforts on isolating radium metal in its pure form, rather than its compounds. And she received this substance in 1910 (in collaboration with A. Debirne). Marie Curie discovered it and proved that radium is a chemical element. For this they even wanted to accept her as a member of the French Academy of Sciences on the wave of great success, but debates arose, persecution began in the press, and in the end Marie won. In 1911, Marie was awarded the 2nd. She became the first laureate to be awarded it twice.
Work at the Radium Institute
The Radium Institute was established for radioactivity research shortly before the First World War began. Curie worked here in the field of basic research into radioactivity and its medical applications. During the war years, she trained military doctors in radiology, for example, to detect shrapnel in the body of a wounded person using X-rays, and supplied portable ones to the front line. Irene, her daughter, was among the doctors she taught.
last years of life
Even in her old age, Marie Curie continued her work. A brief biography of these years is marked by the following: she worked with doctors, students, wrote scientific papers, and also published a biography of her husband. Marie traveled to Poland, which had finally gained independence. She also visited the USA, where she was greeted with triumph and where she was given 1 g of radium to continue her experiments (its cost, by the way, is equivalent to the cost of more than 200 kg of gold). However, interaction with radioactive substances made itself felt. Her health deteriorated, and on July 4, 1934, Curie Marie died of leukemia. This happened in the French Alps, in a small hospital located in Sancellemose.
Marie Curie University in Lublin
The chemical element curium (No. 96) was named in honor of the Curies. And the name of the great woman Mary was immortalized in the name of the university in Lublin (Poland). It is one of the largest state-owned higher education institutions in Poland. Marie Curie-Skłodowska University was founded in 1944, and there is a monument in front of it, shown in the photo above. The first rector and organizer of this educational institution was Associate Professor Heinrich Raabe. Today it includes the following 10 faculties:
Biology and biotechnology.
Art.
Humanities.
Philosophy and sociology.
Pedagogy and psychology.
Geosciences and spatial planning.
Mathematics, physics and computer science.
Rights and management.
Political Science.
Pedagogy and psychology.
More than 23.5 thousand students chose Marie Curie University to study, of which about 500 were foreigners.
Marie Curie was the first female scientist who was twice awarded the Nobel Prize for her research in the field of physics of radioactive materials and chemistry, the creator of the first X-ray machines, and the discoverer of the chemical element radium.
She is called the mother of radioactive physics, and the Marie Curie University in Paris is the best on the planet, practical research is still being conducted there, and students from around the world are studying there. Marie was not only a great scientist, but also simply a happy woman who gave birth to and raised two charming daughters.
This outstanding woman was a real genius; the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Museum in Warsaw was opened in her memory, and the National Library in Paris carefully preserves her belongings and laboratory equipment. Marie Curie herself is buried in a special coffin protected from radiation in the Paris Pantheon, and everyone who wants to examine her personal belongings is warned about the possibility of getting radiation sickness.
Here are some interesting facts that the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Museum offers to familiarize yourself with:
- The physicist always wore an amulet filled with real radium, but she did not know about the dangers of radiation.
- The scientist named the discovered element polonium, thereby perpetuating the memory of her homeland.
- Curie was a full member of 85 scientific societies, and this was simply an incredible event for a woman of that time.
- Curie gave birth to two absolutely healthy girls, despite the fact that she always worked without special protection and received several severe burns.
- Her daughter Irene also received the title of Nobel Prize laureate.
- Maria became the first female teacher in the entire history of the Sorbonne.
Childhood and youth of a scientist
The girl grew up extremely purposeful and diligent. Maria was an excellent student, and natural sciences came to her with extraordinary ease. A short biography outlined on Wikipedia says that from a very young age, Maria felt a craving for research, and her parents tried to help her in everything.
Soon one of Marie's sisters dies, and then her mother - these events make the very young Marie Curie think about the frailty of existence. The girl's father had extensive contacts in scientific circles, and Curie had the opportunity to communicate with some very famous personalities. For example, the great chemist Mendeleev, seeing a girl conducting experiments in the laboratory, exclaimed: “Yes, she will become an excellent chemist!”
Soon Marie Curie went to enroll in one of the natural science faculties of the Sorbonne. Having become a student, the girl studied with complete dedication and was among the best. One day, during class, Marie fainted from hunger: she lived in extreme poverty, she did not have enough money for food, clothes and shoes.
Personal life
Pierre Curie was burdened by the company of silly girls, but a promising girl with brilliant inclinations charmed him. Exactly a year later, Maria and Pierre decided to join their destinies and held a modest civil ceremony.
The museum contains a photograph in which the Curies are captured with bicycles during their wedding walk. Soon their first daughter is born, but the young mother sends the child to her grandfather, and she herself completes a series of experiments on magnetism. Pierre and Marie Curie began working together, conducting studies of the radiation of ores, commissioned by large metallurgical concerns. Working together brings real pleasure to the spouses, and their union is strengthened by the birth of their second daughter.
However, happiness does not last long: soon her beloved husband dies under the wheels of a freight cart, and Marie is left completely alone. This circumstance does not affect her work in any way; on the contrary, Curie is immersed in the study of radiation emitted by uranium ores. The scientist conducts many experiments, being exposed to severe radiation. Towards the end of her life, Maria suffered from many diseases that were the result of radiation sickness, and died from leukemia, which took an acute form.
Scientific achievements
She completed her twelve-year study of the properties of radium, having obtained this element in the form of a metal, she was able to isolate the compound of radium chloride, which became the standard and is stored at the Institute of Weights and Measures. Her work acquired particular significance in connection with the discovery of the possibilities of radioactive radiation in the fight against cancer, previously considered incurable.
Thanks to her perseverance, she was able to found the world's first Radium Institute, where she conducted not only teaching, but also research. During her life, she wrote more than 30 articles and raised a galaxy of young scientists who continued her work. Marie Sklodowska-Curie investigated the harmful effects of radiation from the elements she discovered on the human body - unfortunately, these discoveries were made at the cost of her own life. Author: Natalya Ivanova
Pierre Curie (15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French physicist who pioneered the fields of crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity and radioactivity.
History of success
Before he joined the research of his wife, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Pierre Curie was already widely known and respected in the world of physics. Together with his brother Jacques, he discovered the phenomenon of piezoelectricity, in which a crystal can become electrically polarized, and invented the quartz balance. His work on crystal symmetry and his findings on the relationship between magnetism and temperature also received accolades from the scientific community. He shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Henri Becquerel and with his wife
Pierre and his wife played a key role in the discovery of radium and polonium, substances that had a significant impact on humanity for their practical and nuclear properties. Their marriage founded a scientific dynasty: their children and grandchildren also became famous scientists.
Marie and Pierre Curie: biography
Pierre was born in Paris, France, to Sophie-Claire Depuy, the daughter of a manufacturer, and Dr. Eugene Curie, a free-thinking physician. His father supported the family with a modest medical practice, while satisfying his love of the natural sciences. Eugene Curie was an idealist and ardent republican, and founded a hospital for the wounded of the 1871 Commune.
Pierre received his pre-university education at home. His mother taught first, and then his father and older brother Jacques. He especially enjoyed excursions to the countryside, where Pierre could observe and study plants and animals, developing a love of nature that remained throughout his life, which constituted his only entertainment and relaxation during his subsequent scientific career. At the age of 14, he showed a strong inclination towards the exact sciences and began studying with a mathematics professor, who helped him develop his gift in this discipline, especially spatial representation.
As a boy, Curie observed his father's experiments and developed a penchant for experimental research.
From pharmacologists to physicists
Pierre's knowledge of physics and mathematics earned him a Bachelor of Science degree in 1875 at the age of sixteen.
At the age of 18, he received an equivalent diploma from the Sorbonne, also known as the Sorbonne, but did not immediately enter doctoral studies due to lack of funds. Instead, he acted as a laboratory assistant at his alma mater, becoming Paul Desen's assistant in 1878, responsible for the laboratory work of physics students. At the time, his brother Jacques was working in the laboratory of mineralogy at the Sorbonne, and they began a productive five-year period of scientific collaboration.
successful marriage
In 1894, Pierre met his future wife, Maria Sklodowska, who studied physics and mathematics at the Sorbonne, and married her on July 25, 1895, in a simple civil marriage ceremony. Maria used the money received as a wedding gift to purchase two bicycles, on which the newlyweds made a honeymoon trip through the French countryside, and which were their main means of recreation for many years. In 1897, their daughter was born, and a few days later Pierre's mother died. Dr. Curie moved in with the young couple and helped care for his granddaughter, Irene Curie.
Pierre and Maria devoted themselves to scientific work. Together they isolated polonium and radium, pioneered the study of radioactivity, and were the first to use the term. In their works, including Maria's famous doctoral work, they used data obtained using a sensitive piezoelectric electrometer created by Pierre and his brother Jacques.
Pierre Curie: biography of a scientist
In 1880, he and his older brother Jacques showed that when a crystal is compressed, an electric potential, piezoelectricity, arises. Shortly thereafter (in 1881), the opposite effect was demonstrated: crystals could be deformed under the influence of an electric field. Almost all digital electronic circuits today use this phenomenon in the form
Before his famous doctoral dissertation on magnetism, the French physicist developed and improved an extremely sensitive torsion balance to measure magnetic coefficients. Their modifications were also used by subsequent researchers in this area.
Pierre studied ferromagnetism, paramagnetism and diamagnetism. He discovered and described the dependence of the ability of substances to magnetize on temperature, known today as Curie's law. The constant in this law is called the Curie constant. Pierre also established that ferromagnetic substances have a critical transition temperature, above which they lose their ferromagnetic properties. This phenomenon is called the Curie point.
The principle that Pierre Curie formulated, the doctrine of symmetry, is that a physical effect cannot cause an asymmetry that is absent from its cause. For example, a random mixture of sand in zero gravity has no asymmetry (sand is isotropic). Under the influence of gravity, an asymmetry arises due to the direction of the field. Sand grains are “sorted” by density, which increases with depth. But this new directional arrangement of sand particles actually reflects the asymmetry of the gravitational field that caused the separation.
Radioactivity
Pierre and Marie's work on radioactivity was based on the results of Roentgen and Henri Becquerel. In 1898, after careful research, they discovered polonium, and a few months later - radium, isolating 1 g of this chemical element from uraninite. They also discovered that beta rays are negatively charged particles.
The discoveries of Pierre and Marie Curie required a lot of work. There was not enough money, and to save on transportation costs, they rode bicycles to work. Indeed, the teacher's salary was minimal, but the couple of scientists continued to devote their time and money to research.
Discovery of polonium
The secret of their success lay in the new method of chemical analysis used by Curie, based on the precise measurement of radiation. Each substance was placed on one of the capacitor plates, and the conductivity of the air was measured using an electrometer and piezoelectric quartz. This value was proportional to the content of the active substance, such as uranium or thorium.
The couple tested a large number of compounds of almost all known elements and found that only uranium and thorium were radioactive. However, they decided to measure the radiation emitted by the ores from which uranium and thorium are extracted, such as chalcolite and uraninite. The ore showed activity that was 2.5 times greater than that of uranium. After treating the residue with acid and hydrogen sulfide, they found that the active substance accompanies bismuth in all reactions. However, they achieved partial separation by noticing that bismuth sulfide was less volatile than the sulfide of the new element, which they named polonium after Marie Curie's homeland of Poland.
Radium, radiation and the Nobel Prize
On December 26, 1898, Curie and J. Bemont, head of research at the Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry, announced in their report to the Academy of Sciences the discovery of a new element, which they called radium.
The French physicist, together with one of his students, first discovered the energy of the atom by discovering the continuous emission of heat from particles of the newly discovered element. He also studied the emission of radioactive substances, and with the help of magnetic fields he was able to determine that some emitted particles were positively charged, others were negatively charged, and others were neutral. This is how alpha, beta and gamma radiation were discovered.
Curie shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife and was awarded in recognition of the extraordinary services they had rendered by their research into the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Becquerel.
Last years
Pierre Curie, whose discoveries initially did not receive wide recognition in France, which did not allow him to occupy the department of physical chemistry and mineralogy at the Sorbonne, left for Geneva. The move changed things, which can be explained by his leftist views and disagreements over the policy of the Third Republic regarding science. After his candidacy was rejected in 1902, in 1905 he was admitted to the Academy.
The prestige of the Nobel Prize prompted the French Parliament in 1904 to create a new Curie professorship at the Sorbonne. Pierre stated that he would not remain at the School of Physics until there was a fully funded laboratory with the required number of assistants. His demand was fulfilled, and Maria headed his laboratory.
By the beginning of 1906, Pierre Curie was finally ready to begin work under proper conditions for the first time, although he was ill and very tired.
On April 19, 1906, in Paris, during a lunch break, walking from a meeting with colleagues at the Sorbonne, crossing the Rue Dauphine, slippery from the rain, Curie slipped in front of a horse-drawn carriage. The scientist died as a result of an accident. His untimely death, although tragic, nevertheless helped him avoid death from what Pierre Curie discovered - radiation exposure, which later killed his wife. The couple is buried in the crypt of the Pantheon in Paris.
Scientist's legacy
The radioactivity of radium makes it an extremely dangerous chemical element. Scientists realized this only after the use of this substance to illuminate dials, panels, watches and other instruments in the early twentieth century began to affect the health of laboratory workers and consumers. However, radium chloride is used in medicine to treat cancer.
Polonium has various practical uses in industrial and nuclear installations. It is also known to be very toxic and can be used as a poison. Perhaps most important is its use as a neutron fuse for nuclear weapons.
In honor of Pierre Curie, at the Radiological Congress in 1910, after the death of the physicist, a unit of radioactivity was named, equal to 3.7 x 10 10 decays per second or 37 gigabecquerels.
Scientific dynasty
Children and grandchildren of physicists also became prominent scientists. Their daughter Irene married Frédéric Joliot and in 1935 they had a family together. The youngest daughter, Eva, born in 1904, married an American diplomat and director of the UN Children's Fund. She is the author of a biography of her mother, Madame Curie (1938), translated into several languages.
The granddaughter, Hélène Langevin-Joliot, became a professor of nuclear physics at the University of Paris, and the grandson, Pierre Joliot-Curie, named after his grandfather, is a famous biochemist.
Discovery of the elements radium and polonium, isolation of radium
Together with her husband, she discovered the elements radium (from Lat. radium- radiating) and polonium (from lat. polonium(Polonia - Latin for “Poland”) - a tribute to the homeland of Maria Skłodowska).
Biography and scientific achievements
Maria Skłodowska was born in Warsaw. Her childhood years were darkened by the early loss of one of her sisters and soon - her mother. Even as a schoolgirl, she was distinguished by her extraordinary diligence and hard work. Maria strove to complete the work in the most thorough manner, avoiding inaccuracies, often at the expense of sleep and regular nutrition. She studied so intensively that, after graduating from school, she was forced to take a break to improve her health.
Maria sought to continue her education, however, in the Russian Empire, which at that time included Poland, opportunities for women to obtain higher scientific education were limited. The Skłodowski sisters, Maria and Bronislava, agreed to take turns working as governesses for several years in order to receive an education one by one. Maria worked for several years as a teacher-governess while Bronislava studied at medical school in Paris. Then Maria, at the age of 24, was able to go to the Sorbonne, in Paris, where she studied chemistry and physics while Bronislava earned money for her sister's education.
Maria Sklodowska became the first female teacher in the history of the Sorbonne. At the Sorbonne she met Pierre Curie, also a teacher, whom she later married. Together they began to study the anomalous rays (X-rays) that were emitted by uranium salts. Without any laboratory, and working in a barn on the Rue Laumont in Paris, from 1898 to 1902 they processed 8 tons of uranium ore and isolated one hundredth of a gram of a new substance - radium. Polonium was later discovered, an element named after Marie Curie's homeland. In 1903, Marie and Pierre Curie received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for outstanding services in joint research into the phenomena of radiation." While at the award ceremony, the couple think about creating their own laboratory and even an institute of radioactivity. Their idea was brought to life, but much later.
After the tragic death of her husband Pierre Curie in 1906, Marie Skłodowska-Curie inherited his chair at the University of Paris.
In addition to two Nobel Prizes, Skłodowska-Curie was awarded:
- Berthelot medal of the French Academy of Sciences (1902),
- Davy Medal of the Royal Society of London (1903)
- Elliot Cresson Medal of the Franklin Institute (1909).
She was a member of 85 scientific societies around the world, including the French Academy of Medicine, and received 20 honorary degrees. From 1911 until her death, Sklodowska-Curie took part in the prestigious Solvay Congresses on Physics, and for 12 years she was an employee of the International Commission for Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations.
Children
- Irene Joliot-Curie (-) - Nobel laureate in chemistry.
- Eva Curie (-) - journalist, author of a book about her mother, was married to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Henry Richardson Labouisse, Jr.
Links
- Eve Curie. "Marie Curie"
| Laureates |
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Maria Sklodowska, who was born in 1867 in the capital of Poland - Warsaw, had a penchant for natural sciences since childhood. Despite all the difficulties in studying them, associated with restrictions in this area for women at that time, she achieved impressive success in her favorite subject. She received the second part of her surname - Curie - by marrying the French Pierre Curie.
Scientific discoveries of Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Maria Sklodowska-Curie chose the study of radioactivity as the main area of application of her outstanding abilities. She worked on this topic together with her husband, studying the various properties of radioactive elements. Most of their experiments were carried out using one of the common minerals, uraninite: in total, over the years of their work, they used more than eight tons of this ore.The result of this painstaking work was the discovery of two new elements that were previously absent in the known system of chemical substances - the periodic table. Studying the various fractions formed as a result of experiments on uraninite, the couple isolated an element that, by agreement, they named radium, linking it with the Latin word “radius”, which means “ray”. The second element they obtained in the course of scientific work received its name in honor of Poland, the birthplace of Marie Skłodowska-Curie: it was called polonium. Both of these discoveries took place in 1898.
However, constant work with radioactive elements could not but have a negative impact on the researcher’s health. She fell ill with leukemia and died on July 4, 1934 in her husband’s homeland, France.
Recognition of scientific discoveries
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was recognized as an outstanding researcher during her lifetime. In 1903, the Nobel Committee awarded the Curies the Physics Prize for their research into radioactivity. So Marie Skłodowska-Curie became the first woman Nobel laureate. In 1910 she was nominated as a candidate for entry into the French Academy of Sciences. However, the scientific community of that time was not ready for a woman to be among its members: before this incident, only men were its members. As a result, a negative decision was made with a margin of only two votes.However, already in the next year, 1911, the Nobel Committee again recognized her scientific merits - this time in the field. She was awarded the prize for the discovery of radium and polonium. Thus, Marie Sklodowska-Curie is a two-time Nobel Prize laureate, and such laureates do not exist among women to this day.
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