Sklodowska-Curie (Curie), Marie

November 7, 1867, Mr.. - July 4, 1934
French physicist Marie Sklodowska-Curie (nee Maria Sklodowska) was born in Warsaw (Poland). She was the youngest of five children in the family Vladislav and Bronislava (Bogushki) Sklodowska. K. brought up in a family where science classes respected by. Her father taught physics in high school, and his mother until he fell ill with tuberculosis, was director of the school. By Mother. died when she was eleven years old.
To. brilliantly studied in primary and secondary school. Even at a young age she felt the irresistible power of science and worked as a laboratory assistant in the chemical laboratory of his cousin. The great Russian chemist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, creator of the periodic table of chemical elements, was a friend of her father. Seeing a girl at work in the laboratory, he predicted a great future for her if she would continue her studies chemistry. Raised in the Russian government (Poland at the time was divided between Russia, Germany and Austria), K. actively participated in the movement of young intellectuals and anticlerical Polish nationalists. Although most of his life to. held in France, she always maintained loyalty to the struggle for Polish independence.
On the way to realize the dream to. of higher education were two obstacles: the poverty of the family and a ban on the admission of women to the University of Warsaw. K. and her sister had developed a plan Armor: Mary over five years to work as governess to allow her sister to finish medical school, after which the armor has to assume the costs of higher education to. Armor received medical education in Paris, becoming a doctor, had invited to his sister. After leaving Poland in 1891, K. entered the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Paris (Sorbonne). That's when she started calling herself Marie Sklodowska. In 1893, finished the course first, K. received a licentiate degree in physics at the Sorbonne (the equivalent of a master's degree). A year later she became a licentiate in mathematics. But this time, K. was second in his class.
In the same 1894. the house of a Polish emigre physicist Marie met Pierre Curie. Pierre was the head of laboratory at the Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry. By the time he conducted important research on the physics of crystals and the dependence of the magnetic properties of substances on the temperature. K. engaged in the study of the magnetization of steel, and her Polish friend was hoping that Pierre will be able to give Mary a chance to work in his laboratory. Having become acquainted at first motivated by passion physics, Marie and Pierre year later married. It happened shortly after as he did his PhD. Their daughter Irene (Irene Joliot-Curie) was born in September 1897. Three months to. completed its study on magnetism and began to search for a topic for the dissertation.
In 1896, Mr.. Henri Becquerel discovered that uranium compounds emit deep penetrating radiation. Unlike X-ray, discovered in 1895. Wilhelm Roentgen, Becquerel radiation was not the result of excitation from an external source of energy, such as light, and the intrinsic property of the uranium. Fascinated by this mysterious phenomenon, and draws the prospect of a new field of research, K. decided to study this radiation, which she later called radioactivity. Started work in early 1898, she first tried to establish whether there are other substances besides uranium compounds, which emit Becquerel rays discovered. Since Becquerel noticed that in the presence of uranium compounds the air becomes conductive, K. measured the electrical conductivity near the samples of other substances, using several precision instruments, designed and built by Pierre Curie and his brother Jacques. It concluded that of the known elements are radioactive only uranium, thorium and their compounds. Soon, however, K. made a much more important discovery: the uranium ore known as pitchblende uranium, emits a strong radiation Becquerel than compounds of uranium and thorium, and at least four times stronger than pure uranium. K. suggested that the uranium pitchblende contained yet open and highly radioactive element. In the spring of 1898. she reported on her hypothesis and the results of experiments of the French Academy of Sciences.
Then Curies tried to allocate a new element. Pierre put his own research on the physics of crystals to help Marie. Processing the uranium ore acids and hydrogen sulfide, they divided it into known components. Investigating each of the components, they found that the strong radioactivity have only two of them containing the elements bismuth and barium. Since the open Becquerel radiation was not typical for either bismuth or for barium, they concluded that these portions of matter which contain one or more previously unknown elements. In July and December 1898. Marie and Pierre Curie announced the discovery of two new elements that were identified by them polonium (after Poland - the birthplace of Mary), and radium.
. Since the Curie point is not identified, none of these elements, they could not provide chemists decisive evidence of their existence
. And Curies began a very difficult task - extraction of two new elements from the uranium pitchblende. They found that the substances that they will find, are only one-millionth part of the uranium pitchblende. Order to extract them in measurable quantities, the researchers had to process huge amounts of ore. During the next four years, Curie worked in primitive and unhealthy conditions. They were engaged in chemical separation in large vats installed in leaky, all the winds blowing through the barn. Analysis of substances they had to produce in a tiny, poorly equipped laboratory of the Municipal School. In this difficult but fascinating period of Pierre did not pay enough to support a family. Despite the fact that intensive research and a small child occupied almost all her time, Marie in 1900. began teaching physics at Sevres, in the Ecole normal syuperer, schools, trains teachers of secondary school. Widower father moved to Pierre Curie and Irene helped to look after.
In September 1902. Curie announced that they were able to allocate one-tenth of a gram of radium chloride from several tons of uranium pitchblende. Select polonium they failed, because he was a product of the decay of radium. Analyzing the connection, Marie found that the atomic weight of radium is 225. Salt radium emitted a bluish glow and warmth. This is a fantastic material has attracted worldwide attention. Recognition and awards for his discovery came to the Curies almost immediately.
Completing the study, Mary finally wrote his doctoral dissertation. Work is called 'study of radioactive substances' ( 'Researcher on Radiactive Substances') and was presented to the Sorbonne in June 1903. It includes a huge number of observations of radioactivity made by Marie and Pierre Curie during the search of polonium and radium. According to the Committee, was sentenced to. degree, her work was the greatest contribution ever made to science doctoral dissertation.
In December, 1903. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in physics Becquerel and the Curies. Marie and Pierre Curie shared half the prize "in recognition ... their joint studies of radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel '. K. became the first woman awarded the Nobel Prize. And Marie and Pierre Curie were sick and could not go to Stockholm at the award ceremony. They got it in the summer of next year.
Even before the Curies had completed their studies, their work led to other physicists to study the radioactivity. In 1903, Mr.. Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy put forward a theory according to which the radioactive emission resulting from the decay of atomic nuclei. The decay (the emission of certain particles that form the nucleus) radioactive nuclei undergo transmutation - turning into the nuclei of other elements. K. not hesitate to adopt this theory, as well as the decay of uranium, thorium and radium is so slow that in their experiments, she did not have to watch. (True, there were data on the decay of polonium, but the behavior of this element to. considered atypical). Yet in 1906. She agreed to accept the theory of Rutherford - Soddy as the most plausible explanation of radioactivity. It is to. introduced the term decay and transmutation.
. Curies noted the effect of radium on the human body (as Henri Becquerel, . they got burnt, . before they realized the danger of radioactive substances) and suggested, . that radium could be used to treat tumors,
. The therapeutic value of radium was recognized almost immediately, and the price of radium sources have risen steeply. However, the Curie refused to patent an extraction process and use the results of their research for any commercial purposes. In their view, commercial gain is not consistent with the spirit of science, the idea of free access to knowledge. Despite this, the financial position of the Curie improved, as the Nobel Prize and other awards have brought them a certain wealth. In October 1904,. Pierre was appointed professor of physics at the Sorbonne, and a month later, Marie became officially known as the head of his laboratory. In December, their second daughter was born, Eve, who later became a concert pianist and a biographer of their mother.
Marie draw strength from the recognition of its scientific achievements, favorite work, love and support of Pierre. As she herself admitted: 'I have found in marriage all, what could dream at the conclusion of our union, and even more than that'. But in April 1906. Pierre was killed in a street crash. Having lost their closest friend and companion at work, Marie went into a. However, she found the strength to continue. In May, after Marie refused pensions awarded by the Ministry of Education, the faculty council of the Sorbonne appointed her to the chair of physics, which primarily led by her husband. When the six months to. read his first lecture, she became the first woman - a teacher at the Sorbonne.
In the laboratory to. focused its efforts on isolating pure radium metal, not its compounds. In 1910,. she managed in collaboration with Andre Debirnom get this matter and thus complete the cycle of research, begun 12 years ago. It conclusively proved that radium is a chemical element. K. developed a method for measuring the radioactive emanations and prepared for the International Bureau of Weights and Measures The first international standard of radium - a clean sample of radium chloride, with which we must compare all the other sources.
At the end of 1910. the insistence of many scientists nominated to. was nominated for election to one of the most prestigious scientific societies - the French Academy of Sciences. Pierre Curie was elected to her only a year before his death. In the history of the French Academy of Sciences, no woman was a member, so the nomination to. led to a brutal battle between supporters and opponents of this move. After several months of controversy offensive in January 1911, Mr.. candidate to. was rejected by the election by one vote.
A few months later the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded to. Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for outstanding achievements in the development of chemistry: discovery of the elements radium and polonium, radium and the allocation of study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element". K. became the first double winner of the Nobel Prize. Introducing the new laureate, E.V. Dahlgren said that 'the study of radium led in recent years to the birth of a new field of science - Radiology, already took possession of its own institutions and journals'.
. Shortly before the First World War, University of Paris and the Pasteur Institute established the Radium Institute for Studies of radioactivity
. K. was appointed director of the basic research and medical applications of radioactivity. During the war, she taught the use of military medical radiology, for example, detectable by X-rays of shrapnel in the body of a wounded. In the frontal zone to. helped create a radiological installation to supply first-aid portable X-ray machines. The experience, she summarized in the monograph 'Radiology and War' ( 'La Radiologie et la guerre') in 1920
After the war, to. returned to the Radium Institute. In the last years of his life, she directed the work of students and actively promoting the use of radiology in medicine. She wrote a biography of Pierre Curie, which was published in 1923. Periodically K. traveled to Poland, which at the end of the war gained its independence. There, she advised the Polish researchers. In 1921, Mr.. with her daughters to. visited the United States to accept a gift of 1 gram of radium for the continuation of experiments. During his second visit to the United States (1929) she received a donation, at which acquired a more gram of radium for therapeutic use in one of Warsaw's hospitals. But due to many years of work with radium, her health began to deteriorate markedly.
To. died July 4, 1934, Mr.. of leukemia in a small town hospital Sansellemoz in the French Alps.
The greatest advantage to. as a scientist was her resilience in overcoming difficulties: setting himself the problem, she did not calm down until then, until she could not find a solution. Quiet, unassuming woman who plagued her glory,. maintained an unwavering commitment to the ideals to which she believed, and men, whom she cared. After her husband's death she remained a gentle and devoted mother to her two daughters. She loved nature, and, when he was alive Pierre Curie spouses often make outings on bikes. She loved to. Berthelot was awarded the Medal of the French Academy of Sciences (1902), Davy medal of the Royal Society of London (1903) and Elliott Cresson medal Franklinovskogo Institute (1909). She was a member of 85 scientific societies around the world, including the French Academy of Medicine, received 20 honorary degrees. Since 1911. and death to. participated in the prestigious Solvay congress in physics, for 12 years as a member of the International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations