Marie Sklodowski Curie was born on the 7th of November 1867 in Warsaw Poland. At the time of her birth, Poland was divided and colonised by Prussia, Austria and Russia. After the birth of her parents? fifth child, Her father Vladislav went to teach maths and science at a boys school. In his spare time he taught Marie. She happily learned, but was disappointed that she could not do experiments as there was no laboratory.
What is she famous for?
Marie?s courses in college were chosen for two reasons. Both were scientific discoveries. The first was a photograph invented by Wilhelm Roentgen that could photograph through the skin and flesh. It is now known as the X-ray. The second discovery was by Henri Becquerel. He accidentally discovered that uranium compound, even if left in the dark, emitted rays that would fog a photographic plate. Even though this was an astonishing discovery, most people wanted to look at only the X-ray.
It was the ignored uranium rays that appealed to Marie. The director of her college allowed her to use an old storeroom as her laboratory.
About fifteen years earlier, Her brothers Pierre and Jacques had invented a new kind of electrometer. She used this to measure currents of air which was filled with uranium rays.
With multiple experiments she proved that the uranium rays were constant, whether the uranium was solid or pulverised, whether it was dark or light. As well as this she found the more uranium there was in the mineral, the more intense the ray.
And with this data, she created the a hypothesis:
The emission of rays by uranium compounds could be an atomic property of the element uranium--something built into the very structure of its atoms.
Marie wanted to go further. She tested all the known elements to see if they too emitted rays. In this task, she was assisted by other scientists and chemists who donated rare elements from around the globe. In 1898 she discovered that only one other element did that, Thorium. Marie invented the term ?radioactivity? based on the Latin word for ray to describe these elements. Marie was the first winner of two Nobel Prizes. She was also the discoverer of the two chemical elements Radium and Polonium. She opened up the Radium Institute.
What effect has Marie had on scientific history?
Like many scientists, Marie dreamed of discovering elements that would be put into the Periodic Table. Her husband Pierre Curie was also a scientist and became intrigued in her work. He wanted to help and they started to investigate two uranium ores. They were Pitchblende and Chalcolite. They found that these ores were much more radioactive than uranium itself. Repeating an experiment, they found the parts of the ores that were most radioactive. One contained mainly bismuth and one barium. They figured that it had the chemical structure of Bismuth but it was radioactive so it couldn?t be. They realised, in July 1898, that they had discovered a new element. They named it Polonium, after Marie?s birthplace. In the December of the same year they found the same applied to the barium. They named this element Radium. Radium and Polonium are two elements on the Periodic Table.
Radiation was eventually used to bombard atoms. This allowed scientists to examine their atomic structure. This may have led to discoveries around atoms worldwide.
What effect has Marie had on the World?
Almost as soon is they were discovered, scientists realised that radium and polonium could be used in medicine. Radioactive elements were found to be safer in treating certain diseases, and are used today in trying to find a cure for cancer.
It was soon found that radioactive elements could be used to date materials. Archaeologists had found a piece of Uranium and by it?s amount of radioactivity, realised that it was over several billion years old. In that time scientists had not known how far the Earth had gone back and Radioactivity helped them figure it out.
Timeline 1867 Born Manya Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland. 1891 Leaves Poland to study Physicsat the Sorbonne, Paris. 1893 Graduates her first class. 1895 Marries Pierre Curie. They have two daughters. 1896 Shows that radioactivity is an atomic property of uranium. 1898 Discovers and names Radium and Polonium. 1903 Awarded Nobel Prize for physics with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel. 1906 Death of Pierre Curie. 1910 Publishes her fundamental treatise on radioactivity. 1911 Awarded Nobel Prize for chemistry. 1914-18 Organises X-Ray units during World War One. 1918 Becomes director of the Radium Institute in Paris. 1921 Visits America. 1922 Becomes a member of the Academy of Medicine. 1934 Dies from leukemia in France.
Tom Noonan
