Chemistry and physics, of Polish origin. Pioneer in the field of radioactivity. Together with her husband Pierre Curie , she discovered the chemical elements Radium and Polonium .
She was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize , the first person to be awarded two Nobel Prizes in two different fields of science, the first woman to be a member of the French Academy of Medicine, and the first professor at the Sorbonne University. , France .
Biographical synthesis
Born on 7 of November of 1867 in Warsaw , Poland , was the fifth of the children of the marriage of Wladyslaw and Bronislawa Sklodowskiej. Her real name was Manya Sklodowska.
Pierre Curie
After finishing high school with a gold medal, he moved to Paris in 1891 where he changed his name to Marie, to study Physics and Mathematics at the Sorbonne University, he graduated in 1893 , with the number one of his class. In 1894 he met the French physicist Pierre Curie and they were married on July 26 , 1895 . Of him he expressed:
I was struck by the expression of his clear gaze and the slight look of abandonment of his tall stature. His voice, a bit slow and thoughtful, his simplicity, his smile at once grave and young, inspired confidence.
The result of this union would be his two daughters, Eve and Irene.
Qualities
Intelligence, rigor, will, imagination, passion … were some of the qualities of Marie Curie, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. But there were more things that it pioneered. We list them below:
- The first of her class when she finished high school at the age of 15 (1883). They awarded him a gold medal.
- The first woman to graduate in Physics from the Sorbonne University. That year (1893) only two women graduated from the entire University of Paris. Marie was also the first of the class.
- The first person to use the term radioactivity (1898).
- The first woman in Europe to receive a Ph.D. in Science (1903).
- The first woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics (1903). The award was given to her, together with her husband Pierre and Henri Becquerel, for the discovery of radioactivity.
- The first woman to be a professor and head of laboratory at the Sorbonne University (1906).
- The first person to have two Nobel Laureates. The second would be Chemistry, in 1911, for having prepared radium and investigated its compounds.
- The first woman to be a member of the French Academy of Medicine (1922).
- The first Nobel mother with a Nobel daughter. In 1935 his daughter Irene obtained the award in Chemistry.
- The first woman to be buried under the dome of the Pantheon on her own merits (1995).
Scientific activity. Nobel Prizes
Marie CurieInformation about the template
Deadline 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics
1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Prize ex aequo (PN-Chemistry) Pierre Curie and Antoine Henri Becquerel
Predecessor (PN-Physics 1902) Pieter Zeeman and Hendrik Antoon Lorentz
(PN-Chemistry 1910) Otto Wallach
Successor (PN-Physics 1904) John Williams Strutt Rayleigh
(PN-Chemistry 1912) Victor Grignard and Paul Sabatier
Current holder (PN-Physics) David J. Wineland
(PN-Chemistry) Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka
In June 1903 Marie presented her doctoral thesis at the faculty of sciences of the Parisian university, becoming the first woman to obtain a doctorate. At the peak of her scientific activity, she and her husband were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of radioactivity in which it was shared with the French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel .
Marie was the first to use the term radioactive to describe the elements that emit radiation when their nuclei decompose. These studies of the Curie marriage contributed to the understanding of the atoms on which modern nuclear physics is based.
Marie, not only released this finding to the world, but also promoted its use to alleviate human suffering through the application of radiation therapy.
In 1906 , Pierre was killed in an accident hit by a horse-drawn carriage and Marie was appointed professor and head of the scientific laboratory at the Sorbonne University.
In 1911 , he received his second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry , for the discovery of Radium and Polonium to which Marie gave that name in honor of her native land.
During the First World War and helped by her daughter Irene, who was already 18 years old, she collaborated with the Allies, instructing them in the use of X-ray equipment .
After the war, her eagerness focused on creating a laboratory in memory of her husband Pierre. Thus arises the Institute of Radio, an international center for the study of radioactivity.
She was the first female member of the French Academy of Medicine, in 1922 . Her daughter Irene also received the Nobel Prize in Physics, thus Marie Curie became the first Nobel mother with a Nobel daughter.
His other daughter, Eve, devoted herself to journalism and wrote the biography of her mother, she remembered it like this:
She was sensitive and shy, with a deep and secret sweetness that perhaps she only showed to us, her daughters. He had the most generous heart in the world. She was also a woman who adored nature, and who liked to take long walks in the countryside and dedicate her little free time to planting trees and flowers. He loved sports and the outdoors. He also loved literature and poetry.
His death
Renowned scientific died 4 of July of 1934 , in Haute – Savoie, France, at 66 years of aplastic anemia , it is believed that because of their exposure to radiation.
In 1995 , his remains, along with those of Pierre, were transferred to the dome of the Pantheon in Paris on the merits of both.