Marie Curie was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland. She was the fifth and youngest child of Bronsilawa Boguska, a pianist, singer and teacher, and Wladyslaw Sklodowski, a professor of mathematics and physics. Even as a young child Marie was amazed by her father's physics equipment and, like her father, was quiet and hard-working.
As a student, Marie was very talented with a prodigious memory. At the age of 16 she won a gold metal on completion of her secondary education at the Russian lycee. She spent the next 8 years of her life working as a tutor and governess to earn enough money to attend the Sorbonne in Paris, studying mathematics and physics in her spare time. In November of 1891, Marie left Poland and registered at the Sorbonne under the French version of her first name, "Marie." At the Sorbonne she met physicists who were already well known- Jean Perrin, Charles Maurain, and Aime Cotton. Living in harsh conditions, she graduated from her first class of physical science in 1893. During the spring she met Pierre Curie, a highly acclaimed professor at the School of Physics. They married on July 26, 1895, launching one of the most significant scientific partnerships in history.
Curie set up her laboratory in a small, glass-walled shed at the School of Physics during the spring of 1898. She planned to study the mysterious rays given off by uranium. Within 2 months she had made two important discoveries: the intensity of the rays was in direct proportion to the amount of uranium in the sample, and nothing she did to alter the uranium affected the rays. This led her to formulate the theory that rays were the result of something happening within the atom itself, a property she called radioactivity.
That summer Marie's husband joined her in her research. They uncovered a new radioactive element which they named polonium, in honor of Marie's native country Poland. They identified an even stronger element, which they named radium. Although they announced their discovery in 1898, it was not until 1902 that they were able to isolate enough radium to confirm its existence. This earned Marie her doctorate (the first awarded to a woman in Europe) and both the Curies the1903 Nobel Prize in physics.
With this new honor came immediate international fame and enough money to ease some of their financial burdens. After the birth of her second daughter Curie rejoined her husband in the laboratory. The French government wanted to reward the Curies by creating a new professorship in physics at the Sorbonne for Pierre and building a new laboratory for Marie. But, Pierre died tragically in a Paris street in 1906 after his skull was crushed by the wheel of a passing horse- drawn wagon when he absentmindedly stepped into its path. After the accident, Marie confined herself to her diary; she wondered how she could continue to work in her laboratory, "where I never thought I would never have to work without you."
Following Pierre's death, Marie accepted a professorship, at the invitation of Sorbonne, making her the first woman faculty member. She continued to work in her laboratory, determined to isolate pure polonium and pure radium, to remove any remaining doubts about the existence of the two elements. Her efforts were rewarded with a second Nobel Prize in 1911.
After the war ended, Curie campaigned to raise funds for a hospital and laboratory devoted to radiology, the branch of medicine that uses X-rays and radium to diagnose and treat disease. In 1921, an American journalist heard about Marie's efforts and invited her to publicize her findings in the United States. Accompanied by her two daughters, Marie Curie sailed to the United States, where President Warren G. Harding presented her with a gram of radium, bought as the result of a collection among American women. She returned to France with enough radium, money, and equipment to outfit her new laboratory.
Although the dangers of radiation are well understood now, many of the researchers who investigated these "mysterious rays" in the early part of the 20th century handled these radioactive elements with bare hands and no precautions. By the end of the1920s, Curie began to suffer almost constantly from fatigue, dizziness, and a low grade fever. She also experienced a continuous hammering in her ears and a gradual loss of eyesight. In the early 1930's Curie's health continued to worsen, and doctors diagnosed pernicious anemia caused by the cumulative effects of radiation exposure. She died on July 4th 1934, at the mountain sanitarium where she had gone to recuperate.
Maria Sklodowska-Curie is notable for her many firsts:
-She was the first to use the term radiology
-In 1902 Marie Curie earned a doctorate, the first awarded to a woman in Europe
-In 1903, she became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics
-She was the first female lecturer and professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris (1906)
-In 1911, she won an unprecedented second Nobel Prize in chemistry for her discovery and isolation of pure -radium and radium components. She was the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes
-She was the first mother-Nobel Prize Laureate of a daughter-Nobel Prize Laureate. Her oldest daughter Irène -Joliote-Curie won a Nobel Prize for chemistry (1935)
Marie Curie was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland. She was the fifth and youngest child of Bronsilawa Boguska, a pianist, singer and teacher, and Wladyslaw Sklodowski, a professor of mathematics and physics. Even as a young child Marie was amazed by her father's physics equipment and, like her father, was quiet and hard-working.
As a student, Marie was very talented with a prodigious memory. At the age of 16 she won a gold metal on completion of her secondary education at the Russian lycee. She spent the next 8 years of her life working as a tutor and governess to earn enough money to attend the Sorbonne in Paris, studying mathematics and physics in her spare time. In November of 1891, Marie left Poland and registered at the Sorbonne under the French version of her first name, "Marie." At the Sorbonne she met physicists who were already well known- Jean Perrin, Charles Maurain, and Aime Cotton. Living in harsh conditions, she graduated from her first class of physical science in 1893. During the spring she met Pierre Curie, a highly acclaimed professor at the School of Physics. They married on July 26, 1895, launching one of the most significant scientific partnerships in history.
Curie set up her laboratory in a small, glass-walled shed at the School of Physics during the spring of 1898. She planned to study the mysterious rays given off by uranium. Within 2 months she had made two important discoveries: the intensity of the rays was in direct proportion to the amount of uranium in the sample, and nothing she did to alter the uranium affected the rays. This led her to formulate the theory that rays were the result of something happening within the atom itself, a property she called radioactivity.
That summer Marie's husband joined her in her research. They uncovered a new radioactive element which they named polonium, in honor of Marie's native country Poland. They identified an even stronger element, which they named radium. Although they announced their discovery in 1898, it was not until 1902 that they were able to isolate enough radium to confirm its existence. This earned Marie her doctorate (the first awarded to a woman in Europe) and both the Curies the1903 Nobel Prize in physics.
With this new honor came immediate international fame and enough money to ease some of their financial burdens. After the birth of her second daughter Curie rejoined her husband in the laboratory. The French government wanted to reward the Curies by creating a new professorship in physics at the Sorbonne for Pierre and building a new laboratory for Marie. But, Pierre died tragically in a Paris street in 1906 after his skull was crushed by the wheel of a passing horse- drawn wagon when he absentmindedly stepped into its path. After the accident, Marie confined herself to her diary; she wondered how she could continue to work in her laboratory, "where I never thought I would never have to work without you."
Following Pierre's death, Marie accepted a professorship, at the invitation of Sorbonne, making her the first woman faculty member. She continued to work in her laboratory, determined to isolate pure polonium and pure radium, to remove any remaining doubts about the existence of the two elements. Her efforts were rewarded with a second Nobel Prize in 1911.
After the war ended, Curie campaigned to raise funds for a hospital and laboratory devoted to radiology, the branch of medicine that uses X-rays and radium to diagnose and treat disease. In 1921, an American journalist heard about Marie's efforts and invited her to publicize her findings in the United States. Accompanied by her two daughters, Marie Curie sailed to the United States, where President Warren G. Harding presented her with a gram of radium, bought as the result of a collection among American women. She returned to France with enough radium, money, and equipment to outfit her new laboratory.
Although the dangers of radiation are well understood now, many of the researchers who investigated these "mysterious rays" in the early part of the 20th century handled these radioactive elements with bare hands and no precautions. By the end of the1920s, Curie began to suffer almost constantly from fatigue, dizziness, and a low grade fever. She also experienced a continuous hammering in her ears and a gradual loss of eyesight. In the early 1930's Curie's health continued to worsen, and doctors diagnosed pernicious anemia caused by the cumulative effects of radiation exposure. She died on July 4th 1934, at the mountain sanitarium where she had gone to recuperate.
Maria Sklodowska-Curie is notable for her many firsts:
-She was the first to use the term radiology
-In 1902 Marie Curie earned a doctorate, the first awarded to a woman in Europe
-In 1903, she became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics
-She was the first female lecturer and professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris (1906)
-In 1911, she won an unprecedented second Nobel Prize in chemistry for her discovery and isolation of pure -radium and radium components. She was the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes
-She was the first mother-Nobel Prize Laureate of a daughter-Nobel Prize Laureate. Her oldest daughter Irène -Joliote-Curie won a Nobel Prize for chemistry (1935)
Curie was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland. She was the fifth and youngest child of Bronsilawa Boguska, a pianist, singer and teacher, and Wladyslaw Sklodowski, a professor of mathematics and physics. Even as a young child Marie was amazed by her father's physics equipment and, like her father, was quiet and hard-working.
As a student, Marie was very talented with a prodigious memory. At the age of 16 she won a gold metal on completion of her secondary education at the Russian lycee. She spent the next 8 years of her life working as a tutor and governess to earn enough money to attend the Sorbonne in Paris, studying mathematics and physics in her spare time. In November of 1891, Marie left Poland and registered at the Sorbonne under the French version of her first name, "Marie." At the Sorbonne she met physicists who were already well known- Jean Perrin, Charles Maurain, and Aime Cotton. Living in harsh conditions, she graduated from her first class of physical science in 1893. During the spring she met Pierre Curie, a highly acclaimed professor at the School of Physics. They married on July 26, 1895, launching one of the most significant scientific partnerships in history.
Curie set up her laboratory in a small, glass-walled shed at the School of Physics during the spring of 1898. She planned to study the mysterious rays given off by uranium. Within 2 months she had made two important discoveries: the intensity of the rays was in direct proportion to the amount of uranium in the sample, and nothing she did to alter the uranium affected the rays. This led her to formulate the theory that rays were the result of something happening within the atom itself, a property she called radioactivity.
That summer Marie's husband joined her in her research. They uncovered a new radioactive element which they named polonium, in honor of Marie's native country Poland. They identified an even stronger element, which they named radium. Although they announced their discovery in 1898, it was not until 1902 that they were able to isolate enough radium to confirm its existence. This earned Marie her doctorate (the first awarded to a woman in Europe) and both the Curies the1903 Nobel Prize in physics.
With this new honor came immediate international fame and enough money to ease some of their financial burdens. After the birth of her second daughter Curie rejoined her husband in the laboratory. The French government wanted to reward the Curies by creating a new professorship in physics at the Sorbonne for Pierre and building a new laboratory for Marie. But, Pierre died tragically in a Paris street in 1906 after his skull was crushed by the wheel of a passing horse- drawn wagon when he absentmindedly stepped into its path. After the accident, Marie confined herself to her diary; she wondered how she could continue to work in her laboratory, "where I never thought I would never have to work without you."
Following Pierre's death, Marie accepted a professorship, at the invitation of Sorbonne, making her the first woman faculty member. She continued to work in her laboratory, determined to isolate pure polonium and pure radium, to remove any remaining doubts about the existence of the two elements. Her efforts were rewarded with a second Nobel Prize in 1911.
After the war ended, Curie campaigned to raise funds for a hospital and laboratory devoted to radiology, the branch of medicine that uses X-rays and radium to diagnose and treat disease. In 1921, an American journalist heard about Marie's efforts and invited her to publicize her findings in the United States. Accompanied by her two daughters, Marie Curie sailed to the United States, where President Warren G. Harding presented her with a gram of radium, bought as the result of a collection among American women. She returned to France with enough radium, money, and equipment to outfit her new laboratory.
Although the dangers of radiation are well understood now, many of the researchers who investigated these "mysterious rays" in the early part of the 20th century handled these radioactive elements with bare hands and no precautions. By the end of the1920s, Curie began to suffer almost constantly from fatigue, dizziness, and a low grade fever. She also experienced a continuous hammering in her ears and a gradual loss of eyesight. In the early 1930's Curie's health continued to worsen, and doctors diagnosed pernicious anemia caused by the cumulative effects of radiation exposure. She died on July 4th 1934, at the mountain sanitarium where she had gone to recuperate.
Maria Sklodowska-Curie is notable for her many firsts:
-She was the first to use the term radiology
-In 1902 Marie Curie earned a doctorate, the first awarded to a woman in Europe
-In 1903, she became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics
-She was the first female lecturer and professor at the Sorbonne University in Paris (1906)
-In 1911, she won an unprecedented second Nobel Prize in chemistry for her discovery and isolation of pure -radium and radium components. She was the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes
-She was the first mother-Nobel Prize Laureate of a daughter-Nobel Prize Laureate. Her oldest daughter Irène -Joliote-Curie won a Nobel Prize for chemistry (1935)
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