MARIE SKLODOWSKA CURIE

MARIE CURIE

Marie Sklodowska Curie was born in Warsaw,

Poland on November 7, 1867. She had two daughters named Irène and Eve with her husband Pierre, who was also her experiment and work partner. She passed away July 4, 1934 in Savoy, France. She died of “radiation” anemia, a blood disease that often results from exposure to large amounts of radiation.

SCHOOLING

She began to her living through private tutoring.

She became associated with the “Floating University,” a group of young men and women who tried to quench their thirst for knowledge in secret sessions.

By the time Marie was twenty-four she was able to move to Paris and enroll at the prestigious Sorbonne. She studied hard in chemistry, math, and physics and within three years time she had earned her Masters degree.

SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS

She gained a gold medal upon completing her secondary education in 1883.

By mid-1897 Curie's scientific achievements were two university degrees, a fellowship (a scholarship), and a monograph (published paper) on the magnetization of tempered steel.

Marie’s discoveries also led to a new era for medical knowledge and the treatment of diseases.

She won the Nobel Prize twice for Physics and Chemistry. She was the first female to earn the Nobel Prize twice.

RADIOACTIVITY

The couple's first daughter, Irène, had just been born, and it was then that the Curies turned their attention to the mysterious radiation from uranium recently discovered by Antoine Henri Becquerel. It was Marie's hunch that the radiation was an atomic property, and therefore had to be present in some other elements as well. Her search soon established the fact of a similar radiation from thorium, and she invented the historic word "radioactivity" (the spontaneous release of radium).

THE DIS COVERY OF PO LO NIU M AND RADIUM

While searching for other sources of radioactivity, the Curies had turned their attention to pitchblende, a mineral well known for its uranium content. To their immense surprise the radioactivity of pitchblende far exceeded the combined radioactivity of the uranium and thorium contained in it. From their laboratory two papers reached the Academy of Sciences within six months. The first, read at the meeting of July 18, 1898, announced the discovery of a new radioactive element, which the Curies named polonium after Marie's native country. The other paper, announcing the discovery of radium, was read at the December 26 meeting.

THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE

Radium was also used by scientists for experiments on atoms. They confirmed what Marie had suspected - the powerful energy that showed up in radioactivity was a fundamental property of every atom of matter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

“Marie Curie.”Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901-1921. Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1967.

“Marie Curie.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Advameg, Inc. 2010. 19 Oct, 2010. http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_mla_format_examples.shtml

“Madame Marie Curie.” Essortment. Pagewise. 2002. 19 Oct, 2010. http://www.essortment.com/all/curiemariewher_opu.htm

“Physics: Marie Curie.” On Truth and Reality. 19 Oct, 2010. http://www.spaceandmotion.com/physics-marie-curie-biography.htm