Marie Curie Biography

The table of chemical components, often known as the periodic table, is a table that classifies all known chemical elements into periods and groups based on increasing atomic numbers. The periodic table is used by scientists for quick reference to data about an element, such as its chemical symbol and atomic mass. Many scientists worked on the difficulty of grouping the elements, but Dmitri Mendeleev is credited with inventing the periodic table, which he published in 1869. Mendeleev’s periodic table used to have holes in 1902. It was Marie Curie who established that radium filled one of the jigsaw pieces and that its atomic mass was 226. The entire number of neutrons and protons that make up a nucleus is now defined as atomic mass. Marie Curie was able to reduce the radium atomic mass precision to 1 nucleon. 

Curie was a pioneer in the field of radioactive research, winning the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry in 1903 and 1911, respectively. Marie Curie’s contributions to the research of radiation and radium were crucial to the future creation of the atomic bomb, even though she never participated in the Manhattan Project. She is the only individual to win Nobel Prizes in chemistry and physics. Keep reading to learn about Marie Curie’s contributions and a short note from her biography.

Early Life and Education

Marie Curie was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland, which then belonged to the Russian Empire. Bronislawa and Wladyslaw, Marie’s parents, were both Science teachers who nurtured her interest in the subject. Marie’s mother died when she was ten years old. Marie began her schooling at a boarding school and then transferred to a gymnasium, a prestigious school for academically gifted students. Marie completed high school at the age of 15, obtaining a medal for being the best student. She was interested in science and wanted to learn more about it. Curie left Russia in 1891 to continue her studies at the University of Paris, as a university for women’s education was not obtainable in Russia at the time. Her research into the magnetic characteristics of various steels was the start of her scientific career. 

She met her spouse, Pierre Curie, in Paris. In 1894, she attempted to return to Poland but was denied a spot at Krakow University due to her gender, so she moved to Paris to complete her PhD. The Curies collaborated on research into radioactivity, drawing on the work of Roentgen and Becquerel, two German physicists. The Curies reported the discovery of polonium, a novel chemical element, in July 1898. They reported the discovery of another element, radium, at the end of the year. In 1903, the Curies and Becquerel were jointly awarded a Nobel Prize for Physics. 

Marie Curie’s Biography 

Curie began her thesis research by looking into Becquerel’s discoveries of radiation in uranium. She then looked into other substances to see if they emitted this unusual energy as well. She discovered that thorium emitted radiation as well and that the amount of radiation emitted was relative to the number of elements present in the combination. As a result, she inferred that radioactivity is caused by atoms rather than molecules and that it begins within the atoms themselves. This finding is likely her most significant scientific accomplishment, and she and her husband were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for it. 

Madame Curie and her husband went on to make even more ground-breaking scientific discoveries as a team. They reported the discovery of 2 additional elements, polonium, and radium, in 1898. Marie worked long and hard to isolate pure samples of these elements; it took her four years to separate one decigram of chloride from several tonnes of raw radium ore. Pierre was involved in a car accident in 1906 and passed away. 

Marie continued their study and was promoted to Pierre’s post at the Sorbonne, making her the very first woman in France to hold the position of professor. Marie won her second Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1911 for isolating pure radium. The research of Marie Curie was instrumental in the creation of X-rays in surgery. During World War One, Curie assisted in the provision of X-ray equipment for ambulances, which she drove towards the front lines. She was named head of the International Red Cross’s radiological service, and she taught new techniques to doctors and medical orderlies. 

Later life 

Marie Curie is today regarded as one of science’s “greats” around the world. She travelled extensively to publicise The Radium Institute, which she established to conduct medical research and to speak about science. Marie was one of a select group of elite scientists invited to the Solvay Conference in 1927 on Photons and electrons, which became the most famous scientific gathering of all time. 

Curie was the chief of the Radiology Service by the Red Cross during World War I, and her X-ray units treated an estimated one million soldiers. In 1921, she toured the US to gather funds for radium research. She travelled to Poland for the dedication of the Radium Institute, which was founded in 1932 and directed by her sister Bronislawa. Since the consequences of radiation were unknown when Curie began her investigations, she died of radiation-induced leukaemia in 1934. She and Pierre’s ashes were transferred to the Panthéon, the French National Cemetery, in Paris, in 1995. She was the very first woman to get the award solely for her achievements.

Conclusion 

It was a strange thing to say to one of the most illustrious scientists of the time, but Marie Curie facts had never been simple to comprehend or categorise. That was because she was a trailblazer, an outlier, notable for the novelty and scope of her accomplishments. But it was also due to her gender. Curie studied during a period of considerable invention, while decent women at the time were regarded to be too sensitive to conduct objective research. She would always be seen as odd, not only as a brilliant scientist but also as a wonderful woman scientist. She paved the way for a lot of women to take up the same field, which was very uncommon at the time.