Maggie May Ethridge - Marie Curie: Radioactivity Pioneer and the First Woman to Win a Nobel Prize

Marie Curie as a young girl in Poland

INTRODUCTION

THE LIFE OF MARIE SKLODOWSKI CURIE

M arie Sklodowski Curie is one of the most important scientists in human history. Born November 7, 1867 to a poor but loving Polish family, she brought a deep intellect and ethics of hard work to her time of higher learning at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. At the Sorbonne, she met her husband, Pierre Curie. The Curies eventually had two daughters, Irne and ve. Pierre was an important scientist, and the two married and began working together on Maries thesis. Her thesis was built on the work of Wilhelm Rntgen and Antoine Henri Becquerel, two physicists. Curie herself was a chemist and physicist.

In July 1898, the Curies announced to the Academy of Sciences the discovery of a new chemical element, polonium. At the end of the year, another paper was presented to the Academy, announcing the discovery of another element, called radium. The Curies and their colleague, Henri Becquerel, were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 for their research on the phenomenon of radiation. The Curies had discovered the source of radiation, and proven that it came from the atomic level, which completely changed the scientific understanding of the atom.

Pierre Curies life ended in 1906 after he was tragically knocked down and killed by a horse-drawn carriage. Soon afterward, Marie Curie took over his post as professor of general physics in the Faculty of Science, as the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne. She ensured the creation of The Radium Institute, of which she was also appointed director of the Curie laboratory. The Curie Foundation was established in 1920 and was quickly recognized as a public interest institution the following year, becoming a model for cancer centers around the world. In 1970, The Radium Institute and the Curie Foundation merged to become Institut Curie, with three missions of research, teaching, and treating cancer.

In 1911, Curie received a second Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of the elements polonium and radium. The discovery of radium led to some of the most important treatments of cancer. Radium has the ability to kill cells, so it is used for targeted elimination of cancer cells. Radium is also used in dating techniques on ancient objects, rocks, and the age of our universe, as well as for molecular biology and modern genetics. Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she remains the only woman to win the award in two different fields.

The Curies research was a crucial step in the development of surgical X-rays. During World War I, Curie designed ambulances equipped with unique X-ray equipment. Curie herself drove these vehicles on the front lines. The International Red Cross assigned her as head of radiological service, and injured soldiers in battlefield tents were assisted by her Little Curies, the portable X-ray machines she had invented. Curie held training courses for medical orderlies and doctors so they could quickly absorb the new techniques, and she taught these techniques at The Radium Institute after the war.

By the late 1920s, her health was beginning to deteriorate from exposure to radiation. She died on July 4, 1934 from aplastic anemia, a disease of the bone marrow. The Curies eldest daughter, Irne, was also a scientist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Like her mother, she would also die from effects of radiation exposure.

Despite her success, Marie Curie repeatedly encountered opposition from French male scientists, and she did not acquire financial gains from her research and discoveries, in part because she and Pierre had declined to patent their discoveries. Curie never regretted her decision, saying that radium was an element, and as such, belonged to the people. She was clear that scientific research had value in its contributions to mankind, not in monetary benefits.