Sarah Cornia

Marie Curie
Radioactivity

Sarah Cornia
March 5, 2015
Demars
PHYS 1010
Marie Curie
Marie Curie was a true pioneer, for her scientific discoveries and for her success as a
woman in a time where women were undervalued. Maria Sklodowska, later to be known as
Marie Curie, was born in Warsaw, Russia, which is now Poland, on November 7, 1867. Her
parents, Wladyslaw and Bronislawa Boguska Sklodowska were both school administrators so it
is no surprise that their daughter, excelled as a student. At fifteen she finished secondary school
but unfortunately because of the education standards for girls Marie could not attend a college in
her home country. Finally at age twenty four Marie had saved up enough money, working as a
governess, to leave the country so she could continue her formal education at a university
(Aronson). Sad to leave, Marie moved to Paris in 1891 to attend Sorbonne University, which
was one of the few universities in Europe that were accepting women as students. Marie upheld
her reputation of excellence by becoming top of her class after eighteen months. She became the
first woman to ever receive a degree in physics from Sorbonne and because of her superior work
she received scholarships and was able to go on and earn another degree in mathematics.
The industrialist group Society for the Encouragement of National Industry, offered
Marie a job investigating the magnetic properties of different kinds of steel. This job lead her to
meet Pieree Curie, who was the laboratory chief at the Paris Municipal School of Industrial
Physics and Chemistry at the lab where Marie was studying steel. Pierre at the time was making

discoveries about the magnetic properties of crystals. Pierre and Marie worked alongside each
other in the lab and they started dating and by July 26, 1895 they were married (Pasachoff).
Two years later Marie completed her research on steel and had given birth to a daughter,
Irene. It was in this time that Marie found her lifes work, she decided to pursue a Masters
degree in physics. She focused her research on the French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel and
his discoveries involving Uranium rays and how they could be used to produce X-rays. Marie
Curie had to conduct her research and experiments in a storeroom at the Paris Municipal School
of Industrial Physics. She used an electrometer to see the electromagnetic interactions between
subatomic particles of compounds containing Uranium (Aronson). She discovered that the more
Uranium atoms a compound contained the stronger the rays it gave off, it didnt matter if the
substance was solid, wet, or powdered the rays that were given off were dependent only on the
amount of Uranium. Marie next found that the element Thorium emitted rays, like the ones
Becquerel had discovered in Uranium. The behavior of these two elements was puzzling, to
describe the actions that were happening Marie created the term Radioactivity (Pasachoff).
Continuing her study of compounds containing Uranium and Thorium, Marie was
surprised to find that in the mineral pitchblende the amount of radioactivity going on was way
more than what it should have been. The amount of Uranium in pitchblende could not account
for the high levels of radioactivity that the mineral gave off. For Marie there was only one
explanation for this, a new and undiscovered element, so she, with the assistance of Pierre, spent
hours trying to isolate the element responsible for the excessive radioactivity. The idea of a new
element was met with a lot of skepticism from the scientific community, but in 1898 the Curies
were able to isolate not just one but two new elements from pitchblende and in 1902 they

collected enough to get the elements recognized (Pasachoff). These new elements were named
by the Curies; polonium and radium.
Radium was found to be the more radioactive of the two and because of this it drew
attention from the public. Radium could give off energy visibly with light and heat, and it was
inexhaustible. The Curies discovery and study of radium opened many new doors, Pierre
determined that that radium could damage living flesh. This created a new way to treat cancer
and other illnesses (Rulison). A new industry was created from the discovery of radium and its
abilities, other scientists were able to use Maries research and prove that radioactivity is a
primary part of all atoms. Radioactive substances were now being used for medical use and they
were even being used to make watches that glowed in the dark.
In 1900 Marie became the first woman faculty member at Frances top training school
for women teachers. 1903, Marie finished her doctoral thesis on radioactivity and became the
first woman in Europe to receive a doctorate degree. Also in 1903, Marie, Pieree and Antoine
Henri Becquerel received a Noble Prize in Physics for their work on radioactivity, Marie was the
first woman ever to be given a Noble Prize (Aronson). The next year Pierre became a professor
at Sorbonne and Marie was hired as his laboratory chief, also the Curies second daughter, Eve
was born. On April 19, 1906, Pierre was killed in a carriage accident. Marie was the only person
qualified to take over for her husband at Sorbonne, so she took over his classes. This made her
the first woman to lecture there, filling the lecture halls with the press as well as students.
Despite losing her husband, being a mother, being a professor and suffering effects from
her years of work with radioactive substances, Marie continued to study radium, she established
the Radium Institute in France its purpose being to improve the human condition. She planned to
lead its radioactivity laboratory. In 1911, Marie became the first person to receive a second

Noble Prize, she was given a Noble Prize in Chemistry for all her work on radium and polonium.
Marie dedicated the rest of her life to the Radium Institute, traveling the world to raise money
and she made it into an important research center, she also founded the Curie Institute in Warsaw
in 1932 (Pasachoff). Marie Curies work opened many doors for the medical field and she
opened doors for women by doing what no woman had done before. Even paving the way for her
own daughter, Irene to receive a Noble Prize. July 4, 1934, at the age of sixty-six, Marie Curie
died from the effects of her radioactive work (Aronson). She gave her life for her work.

Bibliography
Aronson, Jamie. "Marie Curie." Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia (2013): Research
Starters. Web. 4 Mar. 2015
Pasachoff, Naomi. "Exhibit: Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity." American Institute
of Physics, 2004. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Rulison, Michael K. "Radium (Ra)." Salem Press Encyclopedia of Science (2013):
Research Starters. Web. 1 Mar. 2015.