Marie Curie

Marie Curie was a Polish and naturalised French physicist and chemist who pioneered the study of radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, and the only person to win them in two different sciences.

Early Life and Education

Maria Skłodowska was born in 1867 in Warsaw, then part of the Russian Empire. Her family valued education, and she showed an early aptitude for science.

She studied at the clandestine Floating University and then travelled to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. She lived in poverty and studied with great determination, taking degrees in physics and in mathematics.

She married Pierre Curie, a physicist, in 1895, and they worked together on the study of radioactive substances.

The Discovery of Radium and Polonium

The Curies investigated the radiation emitted by uranium ores and found that the activity was greater than could be explained by uranium alone. They concluded that the ore contained an unknown element.

They processed enormous quantities of pitchblende and isolated two new elements, polonium and radium. The work was physically exhausting and dangerous, and they were unaware of the hazards of radiation.

They shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with Henri Becquerel for the discovery of radioactivity. Marie Curie became the first woman to receive the prize.

The Second Nobel Prize and the War

Pierre Curie died in a road accident in 1906, and Marie took his chair at the Sorbonne, becoming the first woman to teach there. She continued her research and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 for the isolation of radium.

During the First World War she equipped mobile radiography units and trained operators, and she worked at the front herself. Her efforts saved many lives.

She founded the Radium Institute in Paris, which became a centre for research on radioactivity and on the medical uses of radiation.

Health and Death

Curie's long exposure to radiation damaged her health, and she suffered from cataracts and from anaemia. She died in 1934 of aplastic anaemia, almost certainly caused by her work.

Her notebooks remain radioactive and are stored in lead-lined containers. Her remains were interred in the Panthéon in Paris in 1995.

Her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie continued the family tradition and won a Nobel Prize with her husband Frédéric in 1935.

Legacy

Marie Curie is one of the most celebrated scientists in history. Her work opened the field of radioactivity and prepared the way for nuclear physics and for radiotherapy.

She is remembered for her determination and for her indifference to fame and to wealth. She gave away the proceeds of her prizes and refused to patent the process for isolating radium.

Her name is associated with the Curie Institute and with the element curium. She remains a symbol of the contribution of women to science.

The Discovery of Radioactivity

The Curies investigated the radiation emitted by uranium and by thorium. They showed that the radiation is a property of the atom itself, and that it is not affected by the chemical state of the substance.

They coined the term radioactivity to describe the phenomenon. The work opened a new field of physics and prepared the way for the discovery of the structure of the atom.

They isolated polonium and radium from the ore and determined their atomic weights. The isolation of a new element was a major achievement.

The Extraction of Radium

The extraction of radium from pitchblende was an enormous task. The Curies processed tonnes of ore in a shed and refined it by hand.

They obtained a fraction of a gram of radium chloride after years of work. The substance glowed in the dark and was found to have remarkable properties.

Radium was later used in medicine for the treatment of cancer and in industry for luminous paint. The hazards of radiation were not understood, and many workers suffered injuries.

The Radium Institute

The Radium Institute was founded in Paris in 1909 with the support of the Pasteur Institute and the University of Paris. It became a centre for research on radioactivity and on its medical applications.

Curie directed the laboratory and trained a generation of researchers. Her daughter Irène and her son-in-law Frédéric Joliot worked there and discovered artificial radioactivity.

The institute contributed to the development of radiotherapy and to the understanding of the effects of radiation on living tissue. It remains a leading centre for cancer research.

The First World War

During the First World War Curie equipped mobile radiography units, known as petites Curies, and took them to the front. She trained operators, most of them women, to use the equipment.

The units provided surgeons with the means to locate bullets and shrapnel. The service is estimated to have helped more than a million wounded soldiers.

She also established a training programme for radiologists and wrote a manual on the technique. Her war work is less known than her scientific achievements.

Recognition and Criticism

Curie was the first woman to be appointed to a chair at the Sorbonne. She was elected to the French Academy of Medicine and received many foreign honours.

Her relationship with Paul Langevin, a married physicist, caused a scandal in 1911. She was defended by her friends, including Albert Einstein, and she persevered.

Her reputation has grown over time, and she is regarded as one of the founders of modern physics. Her name is commemorated in the element curium and in many scientific institutions.

See also

• Radioactivity
• Radium