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This is a wiki page about the physicist Marie Curie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie
Personal Life
Marie Curie was a Polish scientist born on November 7, 1867. She lived most of her early life in Warsaw Poland. Both of her parents were educators so she learned to read and write at a very young age. This was uncommon for most girls at the time. She enjoyed learning and took an interest in science. She had a good memory and did well in school. She was able to graduate high school by the age of 15 at number one in her class.
Poland was under Russian control at this time and this caused hard times for Marie and her family. Her dad lost his job and no one was supposed to read or write in Polish. He could no longer help her pay for university or anything for that matter.
Marie worked hard to be able to attend university after she graduated high school. This was difficult to do for women in Poland in the 1800s. She found out about a university in Paris, France called the Sorbonne that she could attend. She worked for six years before she was able to move to France and start at the university. During this time she read a lot about math and physics because she wanted to be a scientist.
Marie had very little money while and school and often got sick because of poor diet but she worked hard against all her adversity. She only took three years to earn a degree in Physics at the top of her class. She also met the love of her life Pierre while she was there. They were both scientists.
She died on July 4, 1934.
Notable contributions
Before she died because of overexposure to radiation she made a lot of important discoveries that are important to chemistry, biology, and physics today!
Radioactivity
Radioactivity is the process where particles which are emitted from nuclei of atoms as a result of nuclear instability.
Radioactivity is measured using a unit called the "curie" (Ci). This measures how many atoms spontaneously decay per every second.
Marie decided to test all known many chemical ores to see if any others would emit rays like the ones discovered by Becquerel. She created the term “radioactive” to describe materials with this characteristic. She and Pierre found two ores, chalcolite and pitchblende, were much more radioactive than pure uranium. Marie believed there was much more to be learned from undiscovered radioactive elements and dedicated most of her life to its research.
There are a lot of hazards associated with radiation and along with a broken heart lead to the death of Marie Curie but there are important applications of radiation still used today. These include X-rays, carbon dating, energy generation, and to kill germs, and an entire field of cancer treatment.
Discovered Elements
Polonium http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele084.html
Radium http://www.ducksters.com/science/chemistry/radium.php
Nobel Prizes
In 1903 her and Pierre Curie won a Nobel Prize in Physics for there work and discoveries with Radiation.
In 1911 she won a Noble Prize in Chemistry for discover the two Elements previously mentioned.
Other
Marie Curie was the first female to win two Nobel Prizes!
She was also the first women to be a physics professor at Sorbonne.
It was soon discovered that all of Marie Curies work with radiation could be useful in treating cancer. She then created the Radium Institute in Warsaw, Poland in 1932. After World War II the name was changed to the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology. It was an institute dedicated to cancer research and treatments options.
She also founded the Curie Institute in Paris which continues to be a major center for cancer research.
Fun Facts
Her family nick name was Manya.
She was the youngest of 5 children.
Her mother died of TB when she was young.
Her sister died of Typhus when she was young.
Marie's husband died after he was run over by a carriage in Paris.
Famous Quotes
“We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for humanity.”
"Have no fear of perfection; you'll never reach it. Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood."
"Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas"
See also
Further reading
"Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie (Great Discoveries)" by Barbara Goldsmith
"Radioactive Substances" by Marie Curie
External links
https://www.aip.org/history/curie/article.htm
References
http://www.ducksters.com/biography/women_leaders/marie_curie.php
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/scientists/mariepierrecurie.html