Born in Warsaw , daughter of Wladyslaw Skłodowska (1832 - 1902) and Bronislaw Boguski (1834 - 1879), in Poland , he began his studies with his father, a self-taught, then proceed to Warsaw and finally to ' Sorbonne University of Paris , majoring in chemistry and physics. Mary was the first woman to teach at the University of Paris. At the Sorbonne she met another teacher, who later married Pierre Curie.
She and her husband Pierre Curie and Antoine Henri Becquerel, Marie Sklodowska-Curie received - first woman in history - the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903:
| | " in recognition of outstanding service that they have made in their research on radioactive phenomena " |
| | « in riconoscimento dei suoi servizi all'avanzamento della chimica tramite la scoperta del radio e del polonio, dall'isolamento del radio e dallo studio della natura e dei componenti di questo notevole elemento. » |
La vita e alcune applicazioni delle sue scoperte
La vita Maria Sklodowska-Curie was dedicated to isolation and concentration of radio and polonium present in small amounts in pitchblende from Jáchymov . This is a radioactive mineral, and is a major source of natural uranium.Spouses Curie-Skłodowska noticed that some samples were more radioactive than it would have been if made of pure uranium, implying that other elements were present in the pitchblende. They decided to consider allowing them tons of pitchblende, in July 1898, to isolate a small amount of a new item with similar characteristics the tellurium who was called polonium. The report of this work, together with the next one that led to the discovery of the even more radioactive radio, became the doctoral thesis of Maria Skłodowska.
an unusual move, the Sklodowska-Curie intentionally not filed an international patent for the process of isolating the radio, preferring to leave it free that the scientific community could do research in this field without obstacles, so as to facilitate the progress in this field of science.
Maria Sklodowska-Curie was the first person to win or share two Nobel Prizes. In addition to her only another person up to now, has received two Nobel Prizes in two different fields: Linus Pauling . Others have received two in the same area: John Bardeen (both in physics) and Frederick Sanger (both in chemistry).
During World War , Maria Sklodowska-Curie advocated the use of mobile x-ray of 1921 carried out a trip to the United States to collect the necessary funds to continue research on the radio; was accepted everywhere so triumphant. as a means of diagnosis for wounded soldiers. In
In 1909 founded at Paris' Institut du radium, now known as the Curie Institute and in 1932, a similar institution in Warsaw, which was also subsequently renamed Curie Institute.
In the last years of his life, was hit by a severe form of aplastic anemia , almost certainly contracted the disease due to long exposure to radiation which, at the time, was unaware of the danger. He died in a sanatorium Sancellemoz Passy (Haute Savoie) in 1934. Even today, all his laboratory notes after 1890, even his recipe for cooking, are considered dangerous because of their contact with substances radioactive. They are kept in special boxes to consult anyone who wants to lead and should wear protective clothing. [1]
The eldest daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie , also won a Nobel prize for chemistry (with her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie ) in 1935, the 'year after the death of his mother.
The second daughter, Eve Denise Curie , writer, was among other things, special adviser to the United Nations Secretariat and ambassador of the 'UNICEF in Greece.
Together with her husband Pierre Curie received Davy Medal in 1903 and Matteucci Medal in 1904 . [2]
The 20 April 1995 his remains (together with those of her husband Pierre ) were transferred from the cemetery in Sceaux to Pantheon in Paris. It was the first woman in history to have received this honor (for its own merits). For fear of radioactive contamination, his coffin was wrapped in a shirt lead.
A coin of 100 French francs and a bill for 20,000 Polish zloty that depict were issued in the nineties .
the Curies was given a asteroid, the Curie 7000, and a uranium ore: the curite . Maria Sklodowska-A was given another uranium ore: Sklodowski over the unit of measurement of radioactivity: the curiae.
The pioneer group of electronic music Kraftwerk cites Madame Curie right at the famous track Radioactivity that gives the title to the entire album of the German group.
finally received due recognition, for years I have studied and heard: The Curies
now she is the scientist: MADAME CURIE.
