Aquila Children's Magazine The Electric Issue | Page 20

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MADAME CURIE!
‘Nothing is to be feared. It is only to be understood.’ These are the words of
Marie Curie, believed by many to have been one of the greatest scientists who
ever lived. Marie Curie became the first woman in Europe to receive a doctorate
in science. She was the first woman to teach at the world-famous Sorbonne
University in Paris and the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics. This
month we celebrate the 150th anniversary of her birth.
Marie Sklodowska was born in the
Polish capital, Warsaw, on 7
November 1867. Well known for her
prodigious memory, she did well at
school but was not able to move on
to higher education straight away.
Polish universities did not accept
women students then and she could
not afford to go to a university
abroad. To raise the money she
needed to study at the Sorbonne
University in Paris, Marie worked first
as a teacher and then as a governess.
In Paris, times were hard. Marie lived
in a small attic at the top of a large
house and seems to have survived on
a diet of bread, butter and tea.
While studying for her degree in
mathematical sciences, which she
gained in 1894, she met and married
another student at the Sorbonne, Pierre
Curie. It was a partnership that would
soon lead to discoveries of world-
changing importance.
RADIOACTIVE ROYALTY
The Curies first studied the powerful
rays, similar to X-rays, given off by the
element uranium. They called the
process radioactivity. Then they began
to experiment with a uranium-rich
mineral called uraninite (formerly
pitchblende). Its radioactivity appeared
to be far greater than that of uranium.
This led to the discovery of a new
radioactive element. They named it
polonium, after the country of Marie’s
birth. Another new element, radium,
was also discovered.
Even the birth of the couple’s two
daughters, Irene (1897) and Eve (1904)
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Marie around 1900
did not halt their work. The couple used
most of their money to pay for equipment
and materials, did most of their work in a
small, draughty, damp shed and suffered
burns and illness because of the toxic
chemicals they were handling. In
recognition of their major discoveries they
were awarded one of science’s top prizes,
the Nobel Prize in Physics, in 1903.
GRIEF STRICKEN
Then, suddenly, disaster struck. One day
in 1904, as Pierre crossed a busy street in
Paris, he was struck and killed by a heavily
loaded horse-drawn cart. Marie was
devastated to have lost both her husband
and her lab partner. She wrote in her
diary, ‘How can I continue to work in a
laboratory where I never thought I would
have to live without you.’
From then on though Marie devoted
even more time and energy to
completing the scientific work she and
Pierre had started together. In 1906 she
was appointed to the professorship
that had been left by her husband’s
death and became the first woman to
teach at the Sorbonne. She was
awarded a second Nobel Prize, this
time in chemistry, for achieving the
isolation of pure radium. She was
responsible for the opening of the
Institute of Radium in Paris and,
during the First World War, worked
with her daughter Irene to develop
the use of radioactivity in the field of
medicine. This included the provision
of ‘Little Curies’, small mobile trucks
containing X-ray machines that were
able to visit surgical stations on the
front line to help diagnose soldiers’
injuries.
In later life, Marie travelled the
world lecturing and receiving medals,
degrees and other awards.
Marie and Pierre