Madam Curie

Marie Curie
November 7, 1867- July 4, 1934
Born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw

The woman who

became “Madame
Marie Curie” was
named Maria
Sklodowska at birth.
Her family and friends
called her by a
nickname, Manya. She
was born on November
7, 1867, in Warsaw, the
city that had once been
the capital of Poland.
 Maniya’s Family
Manya’s parents raised their
children to be patriots of a
nation that no longer existed.
By 1815, through wars and
treaties, the countries around
Poland had divided up the
country and swallowed the
pieces. Warsaw was in the
piece controlled by the czar of
Russia, a provincial city of the
Russian Empire. The
Sklodowskis and other patriots
were determined to preserve
Polish culture at all costs.
 Patriotic Parents
Manya’s parents were teachers, and they
taught their five children the value of
learning. Only modern education could lift
them, and Poland, from their lowly condition.

The family suffered because of their

patriotism. Manya’s father was forced out of
a good teaching position because of his pro-
Polish beliefs, and during her childhood the
family struggled financially.
Tragedies one after Another

Before Manya turned 11,

her eldest sister Sophia
had died of typhus and her
mother Bronisława
Skłodowski had died of
tuberculosis. Despite these
losses, Manya graduated
from high school at 15
with the highest honours.
A Pact between Sisters
Mania and her elder sister Bronya
longed to continue their studies. But
women were not permitted to study at
the University of Warsaw.
Maria and Bronya knew that to get a
true professional education, they
would have to go to a major university
in Western Europe. The sisters made a
pact. Maria would work as a governess
to help pay for Bronya’s medical
studies in Paris. As soon as Bronya
was trained and began to earn money,
she would help cover the costs of
Maria’s university training.
Private tutor at the age of 17
So Maria spent three years in a village
150 kilo meters from Warsaw. She was
hired by the owner of a beet-sugar
factory to teach his children. He did not
object when she used some of her spare
time to teach the children of the Polish
peasant workers how to read, although
she risked punishment if the Russian
authorities found out. Maria used her
free hours to read widely in many
subjects. She found that she was best at
math, physics, and chemistry. The
Russian authorities had forbidden Poles
to teach laboratory science, but a
chemist in the beet-sugar factory gave
Maria some lessons.
Towards Paris
Shortly before she turned 24,
Maria calculated she had
saved up just enough money
for university studies in Paris.
She had looked forward to
this moment for a long time.
All the same, she took leave of
her beloved father and their
beloved Poland with sadness.
She promised to return after
finishing her studies.
 Life in Paris
Young Polish woman travelled
economy-class from Warsaw to Paris in
autumn 1891. Maria Sklodowska left
behind not only her beloved father and
country but her very name. She
registered at the famous Sorbonne
university as Marie, the French form of
Maria.

Marie was not as well prepared as her

fellow students. Nevertheless, through
hard work she completed master’s
degrees in physics and math in only
three years.
First Rank in Physics
Marie's superior work in
physics won her a
scholarship. And a group of
industrialists, the Society for
the Encouragement of
National Industry, paid her
to investigate the magnetic
properties of different
steels. To carry out the work
she needed a lab.
Introducing to Pierre Curie
Pierre Curie had a lab , so Marie
was introduced to him in spring
1894. He had the impressive title
of Laboratory Chief at the Paris
Municipal School of Industrial
Physics and Chemistry. In fact his
lab facilities were poor, but he let
Marie work there. Curie, about 10
years older than Marie, had made
important scientific discoveries
on magnetism and crystals. But
he had never bothered to
complete a doctoral thesis
As the relationship between
Pierre and Marie deepened,
he convinced her that she
should pursue science in Paris,
not return to Poland for good.
She in turn convinced him to
write up his magnetism
research and get a doctoral
degree. He was then
promoted to a professorship,
but his teaching duties grew,
and his lab got no better.
Marries Pierre Curie
Pierre and Marie married in
July 1895. Over the next two
years, Marie completed her
research on the magnetic
properties of steels. She
submitted her final results
shortly before giving birth to
their first daughter, Irène, in
September 1897. Pierre’s
father, a retired doctor,
moved in with them and
helped raise Irène. Marie
began looking for a research
topic that would earn her a
doctorate in science.
 Rigorous Work

Two mysterious discoveries led

Marie Curie to her life’s work. In
December 1895, a German physicist,
Wilhelm Roentgen, had discovered
rays that could travel through solid
wood or flesh. A few months later a
French physicist, Henri Becquerel,
discovered that minerals containing
uranium also gave off rays.
Roentgen’s X-rays amazed scientists,
who took to studying them with
great energy. They mostly ignored
Becquerel’s rays, which seemed
much the same, only weaker. Marie
decided to investigate the uranium
rays. There was so little work on
them for her to read about that she
could begin experiments at once.
 In the Laboratory
First Marie needed a lab. She
had to settle for a storeroom
in the Paris Municipal School,
where her husband, Pierre
Curie, was now a professor.
The storeroom was crowded
and damp, but somehow she
had to overcome its problems.
She started off by studying a
variety of chemical
compounds that contained
uranium. She discovered that
the strength of the rays that
came out depended only on
the amount of uranium in the
compound

. It had nothing to do with whether the material was solid or powdered, dry or wet, pure or combined with
other chemical elements. If you had a certain amount of uranium—a certain number of uranium atoms—
then you got a certain intensity of radiation. Nothing else made a difference.
 Radio activity
This was very strange. Normal properties, colour or
smell or hardness, changed according to how you treated
a substance. Scientists of the time knew that such
properties came from the way atoms combined with one
another. The atoms themselves, most scientists believed,
had all been created at the beginning of time, and could
not possibly change. Marie puzzled over this, trying out
every possible idea. Perhaps, she suspected, something
was happening inside uranium atoms that gave rise to
rays.
And not only inside uranium. Trying out various
chemicals, Marie found that compounds that contained
an uncommon element, thorium, also gave off rays. To
describe the behaviour of these two elements, Marie
made up the term “radioactivity.
 Marie got another surprise as
she pushed through more
compounds. The mineral
Pitch blend ore pitchblende, rich in uranium,
gave off more radioactivity than
could be accounted for by the
uranium in it (and there was no
thorium). She figured the
pitchblende must contain
another element, fiercely
radioactive, and never seen
before. The promise of a strange
new element was so exciting
that Pierre put aside his work on
crystals to help speed up the
discovery. They worked as a
team, each responsible for a
specific task.
 Penetrating the Mystery
A Chunk of pitchblende may contain up to
30 different chemical elements. The Curies
Polonium were like detectives searching for a
suspected criminal in a crowded street. They
had no idea what the new element would be
like, except that it was radioactive. After
long labor they succeeded in finding not one
but two new elements! In July 1898 they
published a paper revealing their first
discovery. They honored Marie’s native land
by naming the element “polonium.” That
December they announced the second new
element, which they named “radium” from
the Latin word for ray.
 Other Scientists did not trust
the Announcement
Other scientists did not trust the
announcement, for the Curies did not have
enough polonium and radium to see and
weigh. The elements’ existence was known
from nothing but their radioactivity. The
Curies would have to separate their elements
from the other substances they were mixed
with. The storeroom at Pierre’s school was too
small for such work, and the Curies continued
their work in an abandoned shed nearby.
 fascinated by the Discoveries
The public and industrialists were fascinated by the
Curies’ discoveries. Radium, inexhaustibly giving out
energy (you could see the light, and it gave out heat
too), hinted at great mysteries and perhaps amazing
inventions. Moreover, Pierre proved that radium could
damage living flesh. That opened a new way to treat
cancer and other ailments. But Marie lost nearly 20
pounds while doing her doctoral research, and Pierre
was often exhausted and in pain. Was it overwork and
stress, or was radiation the cause of their frequent
illnesses? Marie refused to believe that radiation was
very harmful, but doctors today think otherwise.
Industrial firms saw an opportunity in the
Curies’ research. They helped the Curies by
providing additional lab space, raw materials,
and support staff. A thriving industry grew up,
extracting radioactive substances for medical
uses (and other uses too, like watches that
glowed in the dark). 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.
 Radium becomes very costly
The Curies themselves did not grow rich from this
industry. In fact, they had trouble covering their
household expenses. They increased their income in
1900 by taking on more teaching work. Marie became
the first woman faculty member at France’s top
training school for women teachers. In 1903 she
completed her doctoral thesis, becoming the first
woman to receive a doctorate in France. The
committee of examiners declared that her work had
done more for science than any previous thesis
project. Famous now, the Curies seemed destined for
an easy life at the top of their profession.
 High Honours, then Tragedy

When the Nobel Prize for Physics was

awarded to Pierre and Marie Curie in 1903,
the great honor quickly changed their lives.
Pierre was finally appointed to a professorship
at the Sorbonne, and the university belatedly
found funds for a laboratory for him. It also
hired Marie—the first woman to win a Nobel
Prize—as “laboratory chief.”
 Shocking incident
Pierre Curie’s Sad Demise
Pierre and Marie felt too ill, and too
busy, to get to Sweden to deliver
the traditional lecture accepting the
Nobel Prize until 1905. The
following spring Pierre was finally
feeling more positive about his
research. Although rainy, April 19,
1906, promised to be a productive
day for him. After working in the
laboratory in the morning, he was
on his way to a library when he
slipped on the wet street and fell in
front of a heavy horse-drawn
wagon. It ran over his head, killing
him instantly.
 Despite her shock and
grief, Marie went back to
Continues work a day after the
research funeral. Less than a month
later, the Sorbonne agreed
to make her its first woman
professor, taking up Pierre’s
position. Meanwhile she
began important lab work.
Another scientist had come
up with a theory that
radium was not an element
at all, but a compound of
the known elements lead
and helium. It took her
several years to prove
beyond doubt that radium
was indeed an element.
 scientific institution in memory of
Pierre Curie
Still more important, she
decided to establish a
scientific institution worthy of
Pierre’s memory. Helped by
her scientist friends, she
persuaded the French
government and the private
Pasteur Foundation to fund a
Radium Institute. Marie
would head a radioactivity
laboratory, and an eminent
physician would lead its
medical research laboratory.
 Second Nobel Prize
Marie Curie became the first person to win a second
Nobel Prize. She pulled herself together and travelled
to Sweden to accept the 1911 Nobel Prize for
Chemistry for her discovery of radium and polonium.
The following month, she collapsed from depression
and kidney problems. Many months passed before
Curie was able to work again.
Curie finally returned to work in late 1912. She never
remarried, devoting her life to the Radium Institute. By
August 1914, the building was nearly completed. She
expected its work to improve the human condition
would begin immediately.
Active in helping the injured in the war
In August 1914, Germany invaded
France. Nearly all of Curie’s staff at the
Radium Institute enlisted in the war
effort. Scientific research had to halt
during the World War, and Curie
looked for ways her science could
help. She knew that doctors could use
X-rays to save the lives of wounded
soldiers by revealing bullets, shrapnel,
and broken bones. The problem was to
get the X-ray machines to the doctors
near the Front. Curie talked wealthy
people into donating their cars, and
assembled a fleet of 20 mobile X-ray
stations as well as 200 stationary
stations
Marie with daughter Irene
Curie chose her teenage daughter
Irène as her first assistant. For a year
Irène worked by her mother’s side.
Like her mother, she refused to
show emotion at the sight of the
terrible wounds. Soon Curie allowed
Irène to direct an X-ray station by
herself. Meanwhile Marie thought
of another way for radioactivity to
help save soldiers’ lives. At the
Radium Institute she prepared tiny
glass tubes containing a radioactive
gas (radon) that comes from
minerals containing radium.
Hospital doctors inserted the tiny
tubes into patients at spots where
the radiation would destroy
diseased tissue.
Organizer, Promoter,
Legend
After the war ended in
1918, Marie Curie went back
to doing whatever she could
to raise money for the
Radium Institute. Meanwhile
an American journalist paid a
visit to Marie Curie. From the
conversation Missis William
Brown Maloney happened
to know that Marie Curie was
badly in need of radium for
furthering her research. The
Cost of one gram radium was
7 50000 .
Marie Curie Radium Campaign in U.S.A
The news came in a
magazine article. That led to
a “Marie Curie Radium
Campaign” in the United
States. The effort paid off.
She returned with a gram of
radium—only a speck, but so
fiercely radioactive that it
could fuel thousands of
experiments—as well as
expensive equipment and
cash for the Radium
Institute.
Marie with daughter Curie continued to do
research on radioactivity, but
Irene her main focus shifted to running
the Radium Institute. She made
the Institute a centre for
measuring the radium content of
various products used by doctors
and others. She also made it a
world centre for research,
carefully selecting several dozen
scientists and keeping up with
the progress of each. Her
researchers made many
discoveries. In 1934, she was
delighted when her daughter
Irène and Irène’s husband,
Frédéric Joliot-Curie, discovered
artificial radioactivity at the
Radium Institute.
 End to a Marie Curie did not live to
see Irène and Frédéric
glorious life receive the 1935 Nobel Prize
for their discovery. As early
as 1920 she had been
suffering from medical
problems, probably caused
by her many years of
exposure to radioactive
materials.

On July 4, 1934, Marie Curie

died of aplastic anemia, a
blood disease that often
results from getting too
much radiation. She was
buried next to Pierre.”
 Honour
In 1995 the remains of the pair were
transferred to the majestic Pantheon in
Paris, where they now lie alongside
France’s greatest citizens. The president
of France declared that the transfer
demonstrated the nation’s respect for all
those, like the Curies, “who dedicate
themselves to science.