Name: Lin Yulong (19) Class: 2A3 Date:

17/01/2011

Task 2:
Find out more about one of the following scientists and describe
their contributions to our knowledge about the structure of the
atom. In your report, you need to include:

- full name, place of birth, date of birth and death

- a brief description of the type of work the scientists did in his / her
lifetime
- their contribution to our understanding of the structure of the atom
- the technology available to the scientist that enabled him/her to
make the discovery
- a description of how relevant the scientist's theory is to today's
understanding of the structure of an atom.

Choose from John Dalton, Sir William Ramsay, Marie Curie, J.J.
Thompson, Henry Moseley, Max Planck, Eugen Goldstein, Lord
Rutherford, Frederick Soddy, Sir James Chadwick, Niels Bohr, Louis
de Broglie.

Marie Curie

Full name: Marie Sklodowska Curie

Place of Birth: Warsaw

Date of Birth: November 7, 1867

Date of Death: July 4, 1934

Brief Description of her Works:

Her early researches, together with her husband, were often

performed under difficult conditions, laboratory arrangements were
poor and both had to undertake much teaching to earn a livelihood.
The discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel in 1896 inspired
the Curies in their brilliant researches and analyses which led to the
isolation of polonium, named after the country of Marie's birth, and
radium. Mme. Curie developed methods for the separation of radium
from radioactive residues in sufficient quantities to allow for its
characterization and the careful study of its properties, therapeutic
properties in particular.
Taken from: (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-bio.html)
“Marie Curie - Biography” (paragraph 2). Nobelprize.org. 26 Jan 11.
Contribution to our understanding of the structure of the
atom
Marie confirmed Becquerel's observations that the electrical effects
of uranium rays are constant, regardless of whether the uranium
was solid or pulverized, pure or in a compound, wet or dry, or
whether exposed to light or heat. She also formed a crucial
hypothesis, that the emission of rays by uranium compounds could
be an atomic property of the element uranium. This discovery was
an important step in discovering that atoms were divisible, unlike
the beliefs of scientists at the time.

Technology available that enabled her to make the discovery

She had access to a crowded, damp storeroom there as a lab
that the director of the Paris Municipal School of Industrial Physics
and Chemistry, permitted her to use. There was also a new kind of
electrometer, a device for measuring extremely low electrical
currents. It was invented by Pierre and his older brother, Jacques,
around 1880.

Description of how relevant the scientist's theory is to

today's understanding of the structure of an atom
Marie Curie’s theory shows us that atoms are not the simplest of
substances through her research on radioactivity. This changed how
scientists regarded the atom – a word meaning undivided or
indivisible – according to Dalton’s theory. Therefore, it was an
important step towards the discovery of the structure of the atom,
one which is highly relevant today.

References:
• MLA style: "Marie Curie - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 26 Jan 2011
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-bio.html
• Photography of Marie Curie taken from: “Marie Curie – Biography”.
Nobelprize.org.
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-
bio.html. 26 Jan 2011.
• AIP(2000). Science [On-Line]. Available:
http://www.aip.org/history/curie/resbr1.htm. 4 February 2011.