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 DISCOVERY OF POLONIUM 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_for

mat_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