Marie Skłodowska Curie (Salomea Skłodowska
Marie Skłodowska Curie (Salomea Skłodowska
Marie Skłodowska Curie (Salomea Skłodowska
(7 Nov 1867 – 4 July 1934)She was born in Warsaw, in what was then the Kingdom of
Poland, part of the Russian Empire. She studied at Warsaw's clandestine Flying
University and began her practical scientific training in Warsaw. In 1891, aged 24, she
followed her older sister Bronisława to study in Paris, where she earned her higher
degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work. Marie Curie died in 1934, aged
66, at a sanatorium in Sancellemoz (Haute-Savoie), France, of aplastic anemia from
exposure to radiation in the course of her scientific research and in the course of her
radiological work at field hospitals during World War I.[10]
Why?
Forme , she is one of th emost inspirable woman in the world, as she doesn’t not scare
Marie Skłodowska was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a family of teachers who believed
strongly in education. She moved to Paris to continue her studies and there met Pierre
Curie, who became both her husband and colleague in the field of radioactivity. The
couple later shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics. Marie was widowed in 1906, but
continued the couple's work and went on to become the first person ever to be awarded
two Nobel Prizes. During World War I, Curie organized mobile X-ray teams. The Curies'
daughter, Irene, was also jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside her
husband, Frederic Joliot.
Work
1903 Prize: The 1896 discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel inspired Marie and
Pierre Curie to further investigate this phenomenon. They examined many substances
and minerals for signs of radioactivity. They found that the mineral pitchblende was more
radioactive than uranium and concluded that it must contain other radioactive
substances. From it they managed to extract two previously unknown elements,
polonium and radium, both more radioactive than uranium.
1911 Prize: After Marie and Pierre Curie first discovered the radioactive elements
polonium and radium, Marie continued to investigate their properties. In 1910 she
successfully produced radium as a pure metal, which proved the new element's
existence beyond a doubt. She also documented the properties of the radioactive
elements and their compounds. Radioactive compounds became important as sources
of radiation in both scientific experiments and in the field of medicine, where they are
used to treat tumors.
Mme. Curie throughout her life actively promoted the use of radium to alleviate suffering
and during World War I, assisted by her daughter, Irene, she personally devoted herself
to this remedial work. She retained her enthusiasm for science throughout her life and
did much to establish a radioactivity laboratory in her native city – in 1929 President
Hoover of the United States presented her with a gift of $ 50,000, donated by American
friends of science, to purchase radium for use in the laboratory in Warsaw.
Mme. Curie, quiet, dignified and unassuming, was held in high esteem and admiration
by scientists throughout the world. She was a member of the Conseil du Physique
Solvay from 1911 until her death and since 1922 she had been a member of the
Committee of Intellectual Co-operation of the League of Nations. Her work is recorded in
numerous papers in scientific journals and she is the author of Recherches sur les
Substances Radioactives (1904), L’Isotopie et les Éléments Isotopes and the
classic Traité’ de Radioactivité (1910).
The importance of Mme. Curie’s work is reflected in the numerous awards bestowed on
her. She received many honorary science, medicine and law degrees and honorary
memberships of learned societies throughout the world. Together with her husband, she
was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, for their study into the
spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of the
Prize. In 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, in recognition
of her work in radioactivity. She also received, jointly with her husband, the Davy Medal
of the Royal Society in 1903 and, in 1921, President Harding of the United States, on
behalf of the women of America, presented her with one gram of radium in recognition of
her service to science.
For further details, cf. Biography of Pierre Curie. Mme. Curie died in Savoy, France, after
a short illness, on July 4, 1934.