![Warszawa, ul](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Warszawa%2C_ul._Freta_16_20170516_002.jpg)
Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a
Polish and naturalized-French physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
and
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...
who conducted pioneering research on
radioactivity. She was the
first woman to win a
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
, the first person and the only woman to
win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Her husband,
Pierre Curie
Pierre Curie ( , ; 15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity. In 1903, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Curie, and Henri Becq ...
, was a co-winner of her first Nobel Prize, making them the
first-ever married couple to win the Nobel Prize and launching the
Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. She was, in 1906, the first woman to become a professor at the
University of Paris
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
.
She was born in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, in what was then the
Kingdom of Poland
The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to:
Historical political entities
* Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031
* Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...
, part of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. She studied at Warsaw's clandestine
Flying University and began her practical scientific training in Warsaw. In 1891, aged 24, she followed her elder sister
Bronisława to study in Paris, where she earned her higher degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work. In 1895 she married the French physicist
Pierre Curie
Pierre Curie ( , ; 15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity. In 1903, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Curie, and Henri Becq ...
, and she shared the 1903
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
with him and with the physicist
Henri Becquerel
Antoine Henri Becquerel (; 15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was a French engineer, physicist, Nobel laureate, and the first person to discover evidence of radioactivity. For work in this field he, along with Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pie ...
for their pioneering work developing the theory of "radioactivity"—a term she coined. In 1906 Pierre Curie died in a Paris street accident. Marie won the 1911
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
for her discovery of the elements
polonium
Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84. Polonium is a chalcogen. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character ...
and
radium
Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rathe ...
, using techniques she invented for isolating radioactive
isotope
Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers (mass numb ...
s.
Under her direction, the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of
neoplasm
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
s by the use of radioactive isotopes. She founded the
Curie Institute in Paris in 1920, and the
Curie Institute in Warsaw in 1932; both remain major medical research centres. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
she developed mobile radiography units to provide
X-ray
An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
services to
field hospital
A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. This term was initially used in military medicine (such as the Mobile A ...
s.
While a French citizen, Marie Skłodowska Curie, who used both surnames, never lost her sense of Polish identity. She taught her daughters the Polish language and took them on visits to Poland.
She named the first
chemical element
A chemical element is a species of atoms that have a given number of protons in their nuclei, including the pure substance consisting only of that species. Unlike chemical compounds, chemical elements cannot be broken down into simpler sub ...
she discovered ''polonium'', after her native country.
Marie Curie died in 1934, aged 66, at the
sanatorium
A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...
in
Passy (), France, of
aplastic anemia likely from exposure to radiation in the course of her scientific research and in the course of her radiological work at field hospitals during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. In addition to her Nobel Prizes, she has received numerous other honours and tributes; in 1995 she became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Paris ,
and Poland declared 2011 the Year of Marie Curie during the
International Year of Chemistry. She is the subject of numerous biographical works, where she is also known as .
Life
Early years
![Sklodowski Family Wladyslaw and his daughters Maria Bronislawa Helena](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Sklodowski_Family_Wladyslaw_and_his_daughters_Maria_Bronislawa_Helena.jpg)
Maria Skłodowska was born in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, in
Congress Poland in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, on 7 November 1867, the fifth and youngest child of well-known teachers Bronisława, ''née'' Boguska, and Władysław Skłodowski.
The elder siblings of Maria (
nickname
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
d ''Mania'') were Zofia (born 1862, nicknamed ''Zosia''), (born 1863, nicknamed ''Józio''),
Bronisława (born 1865, nicknamed ''Bronia'') and
Helena (born 1866, nicknamed ''Hela'').
On both the paternal and maternal sides, the family had lost their property and fortunes through patriotic involvements in Polish national uprisings aimed at restoring Poland's independence (the most recent had been the
January Uprising of 1863–65).
This condemned the subsequent generation, including Maria and her elder siblings, to a difficult struggle to get ahead in life.
Maria's paternal grandfather, , had been principal of the
Lublin primary school attended by
Bolesław Prus
Aleksander Głowacki (20 August 1847 – 19 May 1912), better known by his pen name Bolesław Prus (), was a Polish novelist, a leading figure in the history of Polish literature and philosophy, as well as a distinctive voice in world li ...
, who became a leading figure in Polish literature.
Władysław Skłodowski taught mathematics and physics, subjects that Maria was to pursue, and was also director of two Warsaw ''
gymnasia'' (secondary schools) for boys. After Russian authorities eliminated laboratory instruction from the Polish schools, he brought much of the laboratory equipment home and instructed his children in its use.
He was eventually fired by his Russian supervisors for pro-Polish sentiments and forced to take lower-paying posts; the family also lost money on a bad investment and eventually chose to supplement their income by lodging boys in the house.
Maria's mother Bronisława operated a prestigious Warsaw boarding school for girls; she resigned from the position after Maria was born.
She died of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
in May 1878, when Maria was ten years old.
Less than three years earlier, Maria's oldest sibling, Zofia, had died of
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...
contracted from a boarder.
Maria's father was an
atheist, her mother a devout Catholic.
The deaths of Maria's mother and sister caused her to give up Catholicism and become
agnostic.
![Maria Sklodowska et sa sœur Bronislawa en 1886](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Maria_Sklodowska_et_sa_s%C5%93ur_Bronislawa_en_1886.jpg)
When she was ten years old, Maria began attending the boarding school of J. Sikorska; next, she attended a ''
gymnasium'' for girls, from which she graduated on 12 June 1883 with a gold medal.
After a collapse, possibly due to
depression,
she spent the following year in the countryside with relatives of her father, and the next year with her father in Warsaw, where she did some tutoring.
Unable to enroll in a regular institution of higher education because she was a woman, she and her sister Bronisława became involved with the clandestine
Flying University (sometimes translated as ''Floating University''), a Polish patriotic institution of higher learning that admitted women students.
![Krakowskie Przedmiescie, Warsaw](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Krakowskie_Przedmiescie%2C_Warsaw.JPG)
Maria made an agreement with her sister, Bronisława, that she would give her financial assistance during Bronisława's medical studies in Paris, in exchange for similar assistance two years later.
In connection with this, Maria took a position first as a home tutor in Warsaw, then for two years as a
governess in
Szczuki with a landed family, the Żorawskis, who were relatives of her father.
While working for the latter family, she fell in love with their son,
Kazimierz Żorawski, a future eminent mathematician.
His parents rejected the idea of his marrying the penniless relative, and Kazimierz was unable to oppose them.
Maria's loss of the relationship with Żorawski was tragic for both. He soon earned a doctorate and pursued an academic career as a mathematician, becoming a professor and
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of
Kraków University. Still, as an old man and a mathematics professor at the
Warsaw Polytechnic
The Warsaw University of Technology ( pl, Politechnika Warszawska, lit=Varsovian Polytechnic) is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professor ...
, he would sit contemplatively before the statue of Maria Skłodowska that had been erected in 1935 before the
Radium Institute, which she had founded in 1932.
At the beginning of 1890, Bronisława—who a few months earlier had married
Kazimierz Dłuski
Kazimierz Dłuski (; 1855–1930) was a Polish physician, and social and political activist. He was a member of the Polish Socialist Party. In later life, he was a founder and activist of many non-governmental organizations; he was the founder and ...
, a Polish physician and social and political activist—invited Maria to join them in Paris. Maria declined because she could not afford the university tuition; it would take her a year and a half longer to gather the necessary funds.
She was helped by her father, who was able to secure a more lucrative position again.
All that time she continued to
educate herself, reading books, exchanging letters, and being tutored herself.
In early 1889 she returned home to her father in Warsaw.
She continued working as a governess and remained there until late 1891.
She tutored, studied at the Flying University, and began her practical scientific training (1890–91) in a chemical laboratory at the
Museum of Industry and Agriculture at ''
Krakowskie Przedmieście
Krakowskie Przedmieście (, literally: ''Cracow Fore-town''; french: link=no, Faubourg de Cracovie), often abbreviated to Krakowskie, is one of the best known and most prestigious streets of Poland's capital Warsaw, surrounded by historic palaces ...
'' 66, near
Warsaw's Old Town.
The laboratory was run by her cousin
Józef Boguski
Józef Jerzy Boguski (; 1853–1933) was a Polish chemist and a professor at the Warsaw Polytechnic.
Life
Boguski had served as an assistant in St. Petersburg to the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev.
From 1895 Boguski was a professor at Warsaw' ...
, who had been an assistant in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
to the Russian chemist
Dmitri Mendeleev.
Life in Paris
In late 1891, she left Poland for France.
In Paris, Maria (or Marie, as she would be known in France) briefly found shelter with her sister and brother-in-law before renting a
garret
A garret is a habitable attic, a living space at the top of a house or larger residential building, traditionally, small, dismal, and cramped, with sloping ceilings. In the days before elevators this was the least prestigious position in a bui ...
closer to the university, in the
Latin Quarter
The Latin Quarter of Paris (french: Quartier latin, ) is an area in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne.
Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistro ...
, and proceeding with her studies of physics, chemistry, and mathematics at the
University of Paris
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
, where she enrolled in late 1891.
She subsisted on her meagre resources, keeping herself warm during cold winters by wearing all the clothes she had. She focused so hard on her studies that she sometimes forgot to eat.
Skłodowska studied during the day and tutored evenings, barely earning her keep. In 1893, she was awarded a degree in physics and began work in an industrial laboratory of
Gabriel Lippmann
Jonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann (16 August 1845 – 13 July 1921) was a Franco-Luxembourgish physicist and inventor, and Nobel laureate in physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference. ...
. Meanwhile, she continued studying at the University of Paris and with the aid of a fellowship she was able to earn a second degree in 1894.
Skłodowska had begun her scientific career in Paris with an investigation of the magnetic properties of various steels, commissioned by the
Society for the Encouragement of National Industry.
That same year,
Pierre Curie
Pierre Curie ( , ; 15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity. In 1903, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Curie, and Henri Becq ...
entered her life: it was their mutual interest in
natural sciences
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
that drew them together.
Pierre Curie was an instructor at
The City of Paris Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution (ESPCI Paris).
They were introduced by Polish physicist
Józef Wierusz-Kowalski, who had learned that she was looking for a larger laboratory space, something that Wierusz-Kowalski thought Pierre could access.
Though Curie did not have a large laboratory, he was able to find some space for Skłodowska where she was able to begin work.
Their mutual passion for science brought them increasingly closer, and they began to develop feelings for one another.
Eventually, Pierre proposed marriage, but at first Skłodowska did not accept as she was still planning to go back to her native country. Curie, however, declared that he was ready to move with her to Poland, even if it meant being reduced to teaching French.
Meanwhile, for the 1894 summer break, Skłodowska returned to Warsaw, where she visited her family.
She was still labouring under the illusion that she would be able to work in her chosen field in Poland, but she was denied a place at
Kraków University because of
sexism in academia
Sexism in academia refers to the discrimination and subordination of a particular sex or gender academic institutions, particularly universities, due to the ideologies, practices, and reinforcements that privilege one sex or gender over anothe ...
.
A letter from Pierre convinced her to return to Paris to pursue a
Ph.D
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
.
At Skłodowska's insistence, Curie had written up his research on
magnetism and received his own doctorate in March 1895; he was also promoted to professor at the School.
A contemporary quip would call Skłodowska "Pierre's biggest discovery".
On 26 July 1895, they were married in
Sceaux; neither wanted a religious service.
Curie's dark blue outfit, worn instead of a bridal gown, would serve her for many years as a laboratory outfit.
They shared two pastimes: long bicycle trips and journeys abroad, which brought them even closer. In Pierre, Marie had found a new love, a partner, and a scientific collaborator on whom she could depend.
New elements
![Pierre and Marie Curie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Pierre_and_Marie_Curie.jpg)
In 1895,
Wilhelm Röntgen
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (; ; 27 March 184510 February 1923) was a German mechanical engineer and physicist, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an achie ...
discovered the existence of
X-ray
An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
s, though the mechanism behind their production was not yet understood.
In 1896,
Henri Becquerel
Antoine Henri Becquerel (; 15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was a French engineer, physicist, Nobel laureate, and the first person to discover evidence of radioactivity. For work in this field he, along with Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pie ...
discovered that
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
salts emitted rays that resembled X-rays in their penetrating power.
He demonstrated that this radiation, unlike
phosphorescence
Phosphorescence is a type of photoluminescence related to fluorescence. When exposed to light (radiation) of a shorter wavelength, a phosphorescent substance will glow, absorbing the light and reemitting it at a longer wavelength. Unlike fluo ...
, did not depend on an external source of energy but seemed to arise spontaneously from uranium itself. Influenced by these two important discoveries, Curie decided to look into uranium rays as a possible field of research for a thesis.
She used an innovative technique to investigate samples. Fifteen years earlier, her husband and his brother had developed a version of the
electrometer
An electrometer is an electrical instrument for measuring electric charge or electrical potential difference. There are many different types, ranging from historical handmade mechanical instruments to high-precision electronic devices. Modern ...
, a sensitive device for measuring electric charge.
Using her husband's electrometer, she discovered that uranium rays caused the air around a sample to conduct electricity. Using this technique, her first result was the finding that the activity of the uranium compounds depended only on the quantity of uranium present.
She
hypothesized that the radiation was not the outcome of some interaction of
molecule
A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...
s but must come from the
atom
Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons.
Every solid, liquid, gas, ...
itself.
This hypothesis was an important step in disproving the assumption that atoms were indivisible.
In 1897, her daughter
Irène was born. To support her family, Curie began teaching at the
École Normale Supérieure
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, S ...
.
The Curies did not have a dedicated laboratory; most of their research was carried out in a converted shed next to ESPCI.
The shed, formerly a medical school dissecting room, was poorly ventilated and not even waterproof.
They were unaware of the deleterious effects of
radiation exposure attendant on their continued unprotected work with radioactive substances. ESPCI did not sponsor her research, but she would receive subsidies from metallurgical and mining companies and from various organizations and governments.
Curie's systematic studies included two uranium minerals,
pitchblende
Uraninite, formerly pitchblende, is a radioactive, uranium-rich mineral and ore with a chemical composition that is largely UO2 but because of oxidation typically contains variable proportions of U3O8. Radioactive decay of the uranium causes t ...
and
torbernite
Torbernite is a radioactive, hydrated green copper uranyl phosphate mineral, found in granites and other uranium-bearing deposits as a secondary mineral. Its name derives from the Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman (1735–1784), It is also known ...
(also known as chalcolite).
Her electrometer showed that pitchblende was four times as active as uranium itself, and chalcolite twice as active. She concluded that, if her earlier results relating the quantity of uranium to its activity were correct, then these two minerals must contain small quantities of another substance that was far more active than uranium.
She began a systematic search for additional substances that emit radiation, and by 1898 she discovered that the element
thorium
Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and has a high ...
was also radioactive.
Pierre Curie was increasingly intrigued by her work. By mid-1898 he was so invested in it that he decided to drop his work on crystals and to join her.
![Marie Pierre Irene Curie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Marie_Pierre_Irene_Curie.jpg)
She was acutely aware of the importance of promptly publishing her discoveries and thus establishing her
priority. Had not Becquerel, two years earlier, presented his discovery to the ''
Académie des Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at th ...
'' the day after he made it, credit for the discovery of radioactivity (and even a Nobel Prize), would instead have gone to
Silvanus Thompson. Curie chose the same rapid means of publication. Her paper, giving a brief and simple account of her work, was presented for her to the ''Académie'' on 12 April 1898 by her former professor,
Gabriel Lippmann
Jonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann (16 August 1845 – 13 July 1921) was a Franco-Luxembourgish physicist and inventor, and Nobel laureate in physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference. ...
.
Even so, just as Thompson had been beaten by Becquerel, so Curie was beaten in the race to tell of her discovery that thorium gives off rays in the same way as uranium; two months earlier,
Gerhard Carl Schmidt Gerhard Carl Schmidt (5 July 1865 – 16 October 1949) was a German chemist.
Life
Schmidt was born in London to German parents. He studied chemistry and in 1890 received his PhD for work with Georg Wilhelm August Kahlbaum. In 1898, two months ...
had published his own finding in Berlin.
At that time, no one else in the world of physics had noticed what Curie recorded in a sentence of her paper, describing how much greater were the activities of pitchblende and chalcolite than uranium itself: "The fact is very remarkable, and leads to the belief that these minerals may contain an element which is much more active than uranium." She later would recall how she felt "a passionate desire to verify this hypothesis as rapidly as possible."
On 14 April 1898, the Curies optimistically weighed out a 100-gram sample of pitchblende and ground it with a pestle and mortar. They did not realize at the time that what they were searching for was present in such minute quantities that they would eventually have to process tonnes of the ore.
In July 1898, Curie and her husband published a joint paper announcing the existence of an element they named "
polonium
Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84. Polonium is a chalcogen. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character ...
", in honour of her native Poland, which would for another twenty years remain
partitioned among three empires (
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
,
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
, and
Prussian
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
).
On 26 December 1898, the Curies announced the existence of a second element, which they named "
radium
Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rathe ...
", from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word for "ray".
In the course of their research, they also coined the word "
radioactivity".
To prove their discoveries beyond any doubt, the Curies sought to isolate polonium and radium in pure form.
Pitchblende is a complex mineral; the chemical separation of its constituents was an arduous task. The discovery of polonium had been relatively easy; chemically it resembles the element
bismuth
Bismuth is a chemical element with the symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is a post-transition metal and one of the pnictogens, with chemical properties resembling its lighter group 15 siblings arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth occurs ...
, and polonium was the only bismuth-like substance in the ore.
Radium, however, was more elusive; it is closely related chemically to
barium, and pitchblende contains both elements. By 1898 the Curies had obtained traces of radium, but appreciable quantities, uncontaminated with barium, were still beyond reach.
The Curies undertook the arduous task of separating out radium salt by differential
crystallization. From a tonne of pitchblende, one-tenth of a gram of
radium chloride
Radium chloride (RaCl2) is a salt of radium and chlorine, and the first radium compound isolated in a pure state. Marie Curie and André-Louis Debierne used it in their original separation of radium from barium. The first preparation of radium me ...
was separated in 1902. In 1910, she isolated pure radium metal.
She never succeeded in isolating polonium, which has a
half-life
Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable at ...
of only 138 days.
Between 1898 and 1902, the Curies published, jointly or separately, a total of 32 scientific papers, including one that announced that, when exposed to
radium
Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rathe ...
, diseased,
tumour-forming cells were destroyed faster than healthy cells.
In 1900, Curie became the first woman faculty member at the École Normale Supérieure and her husband joined the faculty of the University of Paris.
In 1902 she visited Poland on the occasion of her father's death.
In June 1903, supervised by
Gabriel Lippmann
Jonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann (16 August 1845 – 13 July 1921) was a Franco-Luxembourgish physicist and inventor, and Nobel laureate in physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference. ...
, Curie was awarded her doctorate from the
University of Paris
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
.
That month the couple were invited to the
Royal Institution in London to give a speech on radioactivity; being a woman, she was prevented from speaking, and Pierre Curie alone was allowed to.
Meanwhile, a new industry began developing, based on radium.
The Curies did not
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
their discovery and benefited little from this increasingly profitable business.
Nobel Prizes
![Nobel Pierre et Marie Curie 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Nobel_Pierre_et_Marie_Curie_1.jpg)
In December 1903 the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Pierre Curie, Marie Curie, and Henri Becquerel the
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
, "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the
radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel."
At first the committee had intended to honour only Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel, but a committee member and advocate for women scientists, Swedish mathematician
Magnus Gösta Mittag-Leffler, alerted Pierre to the situation, and after his complaint, Marie's name was added to the nomination.
Marie Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize.
Curie and her husband declined to go to
Stockholm to receive the prize in person; they were too busy with their work, and Pierre Curie, who disliked public ceremonies, was feeling increasingly ill.
As Nobel laureates were required to deliver a lecture, the Curies finally undertook the trip in 1905.
The award money allowed the Curies to hire their first laboratory assistant.
Following the award of the Nobel Prize, and galvanized by an offer from the
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...
, which offered Pierre Curie a position, the University of Paris gave him a professorship and the chair of physics, although the Curies still did not have a proper laboratory.
Upon Pierre Curie's complaint, the University of Paris relented and agreed to furnish a new laboratory, but it would not be ready until 1906.
![Pierre and Marie Curie Vanity Fair 1904-12-22](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Pierre_and_Marie_Curie_Vanity_Fair_1904-12-22.jpg)
In December 1904, Curie gave birth to their second daughter,
Ève Ève is a French given name, the counterpart to the English name Eve and the Latinate Eva. Notable people with this name include: People
* Ève Angeli, French musician
* Ève Bazaiba, a member of the Movement of the Liberation of the Congo
* Èv ...
.
She hired Polish governesses to teach her daughters her native language, and sent or took them on visits to Poland.
On 19 April 1906, Pierre Curie was killed in a road accident. Walking across the
Rue Dauphine in heavy rain, he was struck by a
horse-drawn vehicle and fell under its wheels, fracturing his skull and killing him instantly.
Curie was devastated by her husband's death.
On 13 May 1906 the physics department of the University of Paris decided to retain the chair that had been created for her late husband and offer it to Marie. She accepted it, hoping to create a world-class laboratory as a tribute to her husband Pierre.
She was the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris.
Curie's quest to create a new laboratory did not end with the University of Paris, however. In her later years, she headed the Radium Institute (''Institut du radium'', now
Curie Institute, ''Institut Curie''), a radioactivity laboratory created for her by the
Pasteur Institute
The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines ...
and the
University of Paris
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
.
The initiative for creating the Radium Institute had come in 1909 from
Pierre Paul Émile Roux, director of the Pasteur Institute, who had been disappointed that the University of Paris was not giving Curie a proper laboratory and had suggested that she move to the Pasteur Institute.
Only then, with the threat of Curie leaving, did the University of Paris relent, and eventually the Curie Pavilion became a joint initiative of the University of Paris and the Pasteur Institute.
![1911 Solvay conference](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/1911_Solvay_conference.jpg)
In 1910 Curie succeeded in isolating radium; she also defined an international standard for radioactive emissions that was eventually named for her and Pierre: the
curie
In computing, a CURIE (or ''Compact URI'') defines a generic, abbreviated syntax for expressing Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). It is an abbreviated URI expressed in a compact syntax, and may be found in both XML and non-XML grammars. A CURIE ...
.
Nevertheless, in 1911 the
French Academy of Sciences failed, by one
or two votes,
to elect her to membership in the academy. Elected instead was
Édouard Branly
Édouard Eugène Désiré Branly (23 October 1844 – 24 March 1940) was a French inventor, physicist and professor at the Institut Catholique de Paris. He is primarily known for his early involvement in wireless telegraphy and his invention of the ...
, an inventor who had helped
Guglielmo Marconi develop the
wireless telegraph
Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimental technologies for t ...
.
It was only over half a century later, in 1962, that a doctoral student of Curie's,
Marguerite Perey
Marguerite Catherine Perey (19 October 1909 – 13 May 1975) was a French physicist and a student of Marie Curie. In 1939, Perey discovered the element francium by purifying samples of lanthanum that contained actinium. In 1962, she was the firs ...
, became the first woman elected to membership in the academy.
Despite Curie's fame as a scientist working for France, the public's attitude tended toward
xenophobia
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
—the same that had led to the
Dreyfus affair
The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...
—which also fuelled false speculation that Curie was Jewish.
During the French Academy of Sciences elections, she was vilified by the right-wing press as a foreigner and atheist.
Her daughter later remarked on the French press's hypocrisy in portraying Curie as an unworthy foreigner when she was nominated for a French honour, but portraying her as a French heroine when she received foreign honours such as her Nobel Prizes.
In 1911 it was revealed that Curie was involved in a year-long affair with physicist
Paul Langevin
Paul Langevin (; ; 23 January 1872 – 19 December 1946) was a French physicist who developed Langevin dynamics and the Langevin equation. He was one of the founders of the ''Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes'', an an ...
, a former student of Pierre Curie's,
a married man who was estranged from his wife.
This resulted in a press scandal that was exploited by her academic opponents. Curie (then in her mid-40s) was five years older than Langevin and was misrepresented in the tabloids as a foreign Jewish home-wrecker.
When the scandal broke, she was away at a conference in Belgium; on her return, she found an angry mob in front of her house and had to seek refuge, with her daughters, in the home of her friend,
Camille Marbo
Marguerite Borel known as Camille Marbo (11 April 1883 – 5 February 1969) ''née'' Marguerite Appell, was a 20th-century French writer, president and laureate of the Prix Femina in 1913 and president of the Société des gens de lettres.
...
.
![Marie Skłodowska-Curie's Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1911](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Marie_Sk%C5%82odowska-Curie%27s_Nobel_Prize_in_Chemistry_1911.jpg)
International recognition for her work had been growing to new heights, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, overcoming opposition prompted by the Langevin scandal, honoured her a second time, with the 1911
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
.
This award was "in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element."
Because of the negative publicity due to her affair with Langevin, the chair of the
Nobel committee
A Nobel Committee is a working body responsible for most of the work involved in selecting Nobel Prize laureates. There are five Nobel Committees, one for each Nobel Prize.
Four of these committees (for prizes in physics, chemistry, physiolo ...
,
Svante Arrhenius
Svante August Arrhenius ( , ; 19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. He received the Nob ...
, attempted to prevent her attendance at the official ceremony for her Nobel Prize in Chemistry, citing her questionable moral standing. Curie replied that she would be present at the ceremony, because "the prize has been given to her for her discovery of polonium and radium" and that "there is no relation between her scientific work and the facts of her private life".
She was the first person to win or share two Nobel Prizes, and remains alone with
Linus Pauling as Nobel laureates in two fields each. A delegation of celebrated Polish men of learning, headed by novelist
Henryk Sienkiewicz, encouraged her to return to Poland and continue her research in her native country.
Curie's second Nobel Prize enabled her to persuade the French government to support the Radium Institute, built in 1914, where research was conducted in chemistry, physics, and medicine.
A month after accepting her 1911 Nobel Prize, she was hospitalised with depression and a kidney ailment. For most of 1912, she avoided public life but did spend time in England with her friend and fellow physicist,
Hertha Ayrton
Phoebe Sarah Hertha Ayrton (28 April 1854 – 26 August 1923) was a British engineer, mathematician, physicist and inventor, and suffragette. Known in adult life as Hertha Ayrton, born Phoebe Sarah Marks, she was awarded the Hughes Medal by the ...
. She returned to her laboratory only in December, after a break of about 14 months.
In 1912 the
Warsaw Scientific Society
Warsaw Scientific Society (Polish: ''Towarzystwo Naukowe Warszawskie''; TNW) is a Polish scientific society based in Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital ...
offered her the directorship of a new laboratory in Warsaw but she declined, focusing on the developing Radium Institute to be completed in August 1914, and on a new street named Rue Pierre-Curie.
She was appointed Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of Paris, founded in 1914. She visited Poland in 1913 and was welcomed in Warsaw but the visit was mostly ignored by the Russian authorities. The institute's development was interrupted by the coming war, as most researchers were drafted into the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...
, and it fully resumed its activities in 1919.
World War I
![Marie Curie - Mobile X-Ray-Unit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Marie_Curie_-_Mobile_X-Ray-Unit.jpg)
During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Curie recognised that wounded soldiers were best served if operated upon as soon as possible.
She saw a need for field radiological centres near the front lines to assist battlefield surgeons,
including to obviate amputations when in fact limbs could be saved. After a quick study of radiology, anatomy, and automotive mechanics she procured X-ray equipment, vehicles, auxiliary generators, and developed mobile
radiography
Radiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical radiography ("diagnostic" and "therapeu ...
units, which came to be popularly known as ''petites Curies'' ("Little Curies").
She became the director of the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
Radiology Service and set up France's first military radiology centre, operational by late 1914.
Assisted at first by a military doctor and her 17-year-old daughter
Irène, Curie directed the installation of 20 mobile radiological vehicles and another 200 radiological units at field hospitals in the first year of the war.
Later, she began training other women as aides.
In 1915, Curie produced hollow needles containing "radium emanation", a colourless, radioactive gas given off by radium, later identified as
radon
Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through ...
, to be used for sterilizing infected tissue. She provided the radium from her own one-gram supply.
It is estimated that over a million wounded soldiers were treated with her X-ray units.
Busy with this work, she carried out very little scientific research during that period.
In spite of all her humanitarian contributions to the French war effort, Curie never received any formal recognition of it from the French government.
Also, promptly after the war started, she attempted to donate her gold Nobel Prize medals to the war effort but the
French National Bank refused to accept them.
She did buy
war bonds
War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are a ...
, using her Nobel Prize money.
She said:She was also an active member in committees of
Polonia in France dedicated to the Polish cause.
After the war, she summarized her wartime experiences in a book, ''Radiology in War'' (1919).
Postwar years
In 1920, for the 25th anniversary of the discovery of radium, the French government established a stipend for her; its previous recipient was
Louis Pasteur (1822–95).
In 1921, she was welcomed triumphantly when she toured the United States to raise funds for research on radium.
Mrs. William Brown Meloney, after interviewing Curie, created a ''Marie Curie Radium Fund'' and raised money to buy radium, publicising her trip.
In 1921, U.S. President
Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...
received her at the White House to present her with the 1 gram of radium collected in the United States, and the First Lady praised her as an example of a professional achiever who was also a supportive wife.
Before the meeting, recognising her growing fame abroad, and embarrassed by the fact that she had no French official distinctions to wear in public, the French government offered her a
Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
award, but she refused.
In 1922 she became a fellow of the
French Academy of Medicine.
She also travelled to other countries, appearing publicly and giving lectures in Belgium, Brazil, Spain, and Czechoslovakia.
![Irene and Marie Curie 1925](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Irene_and_Marie_Curie_1925.jpg)
Led by Curie, the Institute produced four more Nobel Prize winners, including her daughter
Irène Joliot-Curie
Irène Joliot-Curie (; ; 12 September 1897 – 17 March 1956) was a French chemist, physicist and politician, the elder daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie, and the wife of Frédéric Joliot-Curie. Jointly with her husband, Joliot-Curie was awar ...
and her son-in-law,
Frédéric Joliot-Curie
Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie (; ; 19 March 1900 – 14 August 1958) was a French physicist and husband of Irène Joliot-Curie, with whom he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of Induced radioactivity. T ...
.
Eventually it became one of the world's four major radioactivity-research laboratories, the others being the
Cavendish Laboratory, with
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics.
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' considers him to be the greatest ...
; the
Institute for Radium Research, Vienna
The Institute for Radium Research is an Austrian research institute associated with the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna. The Institute's researchers won multiple Nobel Prizes. Due to the gradual change of interests, "nuclear physics" was a ...
, with
Stefan Meyer; and the
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science (German: ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften'') was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by ...
, with
Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn (; 8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968) was a German chemist who was a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is referred to as the father of nuclear chemistry and father of nuclear fission. Hahn and Lise Meitner ...
and
Lise Meitner.
In August 1922 Marie Curie became a member of the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
' newly created
International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation
The International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, sometimes League of Nations Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, was an advisory organization for the League of Nations which aimed to promote international exchange between scientists, r ...
.
She sat on the committee until 1934 and contributed to League of Nations' scientific coordination with other prominent researchers such as
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
,
Hendrik Lorentz, and
Henri Bergson. In 1923 she wrote a biography of her late husband, titled ''Pierre Curie''.
In 1925 she visited Poland to participate in a ceremony laying the foundations for Warsaw's
Radium Institute.
Her second American tour, in 1929, succeeded in equipping the Warsaw Radium Institute with radium; the Institute opened in 1932, with her sister Bronisława its director.
These distractions from her scientific labours, and the attendant publicity, caused her much discomfort but provided resources for her work.
In 1930 she was elected to the
International Atomic Weights Committee, on which she served until her death. In 1931, Curie was awarded the
Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh.
Death
![Sklodowska-Curie statue, Warsaw](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Sklodowska-Curie_statue%2C_Warsaw.JPG)
Curie visited Poland for the last time in early 1934.
A few months later, on 4 July 1934, she died aged 66 at the
Sancellemoz sanatorium in
Passy, Haute-Savoie, from
aplastic anemia believed to have been contracted from her long-term exposure to radiation, causing damage to her bone marrow.
The damaging effects of ionising radiation were not known at the time of her work, which had been carried out without the safety measures later developed.
She had carried test tubes containing radioactive isotopes in her pocket,
and she stored them in her desk drawer, remarking on the
faint light that the substances gave off in the dark.
Curie was also exposed to X-rays from unshielded equipment while serving as a radiologist in field hospitals during the war.
In fact, when Curie's body was exhumed in 1995, the French ''Office de Protection contre les Rayonnements Ionisants'' (''ORPI'') "concluded that she could not have been exposed to lethal levels of radium while she was alive". They pointed out that radium poses a risk only if it is ingested, and speculated that her illness was more likely to have been due to her use of radiography during the First World War.
She was interred at the cemetery in
Sceaux, alongside her husband Pierre.
Sixty years later, in 1995, in honour of their achievements, the remains of both were transferred to the Paris
Panthéon
The Panthéon (, from the Classical Greek word , , ' empleto all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was b ...
. Their remains were sealed in a
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
lining because of the radioactivity.
She became the second woman to be interred at the Panthéon (after
Sophie Berthelot) and the first woman to be honoured with interment in the Panthéon on her own merits.
Because of their levels of radioactive contamination, her papers from the 1890s are considered too dangerous to handle. Even her cookbooks are highly radioactive.
Her papers are kept in lead-lined boxes, and those who wish to consult them must wear protective clothing.
In her last year, she worked on a book, ''Radioactivity'', which was published posthumously in 1935.
Legacy
![Lublin UMCS Pomnik Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Lublin_UMCS_Pomnik_Marii_Curie-Sk%C5%82odowskiej.jpg)
The physical and societal aspects of the Curies' work contributed to shaping the world of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Cornell University professor
Williams observes:
If Curie's work helped overturn established ideas in physics and chemistry, it has had an equally profound effect in the societal sphere. To attain her scientific achievements, she had to overcome barriers, in both her native and her adoptive country, that were placed in her way because she was a woman. This aspect of her life and career is highlighted in
Françoise Giroud
Françoise Giroud, born Lea France Gourdji (21 September 1916 in Lausanne, Switzerland and not in Geneva as often written – 19 January 2003 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French journalist, screenwriter, writer, and politician.
Biography
Giroud ...
's ''Marie Curie: A Life'', which emphasizes Curie's role as a feminist precursor.
She was known for her honesty and moderate lifestyle.
Having received a small scholarship in 1893, she returned it in 1897 as soon as she began earning her keep.
She gave much of her first Nobel Prize money to friends, family, students, and research associates.
In an unusual decision, Curie intentionally refrained from patenting the radium-isolation process so that the scientific community could do research unhindered.
She insisted that monetary gifts and awards be given to the scientific institutions she was affiliated with rather than to her.
She and her husband often refused awards and medals.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
reportedly remarked that she was probably the only person who could not be corrupted by fame.
Honours and tributes
![CERN, Marie Curie, Ginebra, Suiza, 2015 19](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/CERN%2C_Marie_Curie%2C_Ginebra%2C_Suiza%2C_2015_19.JPG)
As one of the most famous scientists, Marie Curie has become an icon in the scientific world and has received tributes from across the globe, even in the realm of
pop culture.
In 1995, she became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the
Panthéon, Paris.
In a 2009 poll carried out by ''
New Scientist
''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...
'', she was voted the "most inspirational woman in science". Curie received 25.1 percent of all votes cast, nearly twice as many as second-place
Rosalind Franklin (14.2 per cent).
On the centenary of her second Nobel Prize, Poland declared 2011 the Year of Marie Curie;
and the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
declared that this would be the
International Year of Chemistry.
An artistic installation celebrating "Madame Curie" filled the
Jacobs Gallery at
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
's
Museum of Contemporary Art.
On 7 November,
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
celebrated the anniversary of her birth with a special
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
.
On 10 December, the
New York Academy of Sciences
The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wi ...
celebrated the centenary of Marie Curie's second
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
in the presence of
Princess Madeleine of Sweden
Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince.
Princess as a subst ...
.
Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in
multiple sciences.
Awards that she received include:
*
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
(1903, with her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel)
*
Davy Medal
The Davy Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry". Named after Humphry Davy, the medal is awarded with a monetary gift, initially of £1000 (currently £2000).
H ...
(1903, with Pierre)
*
Matteucci Medal The Matteucci Medal is an Italian award for physicists, named after Carlo Matteucci from Forlì. It was established to award physicists for their fundamental contributions. Under an Italian Royal Decree dated July 10, 1870, the Italian Society ...
(1904, with Pierre)
*
Actonian Prize (1907)
*
Elliott Cresson Medal (1909)
*
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
(1911)
*
Franklin Medal
The Franklin Medal was a science award presented from 1915 until 1997 by the Franklin Institute
The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the Am ...
of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
(1921)
She received numerous honorary degrees from universities across the world.
In Poland, she received honorary doctorates from the
Lwów Polytechnic
Lviv Polytechnic National University ( ua, Націона́льний університе́т «Льві́вська політе́хніка») is the largest scientific university in Lviv, Ukraine. Since its foundation in 1816, it has bee ...
(1912),
Poznań University
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
(1922),
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
's
Jagiellonian University (1924), and the
Warsaw Polytechnic
The Warsaw University of Technology ( pl, Politechnika Warszawska, lit=Varsovian Polytechnic) is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professor ...
(1926).
In 1920 she became the first female member of
The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. In 1921, in the U.S., she was awarded membership in the
Iota Sigma Pi women scientists' society.
In 1924, she became an Honorary Member of the
Polish Chemical Society
The Polish Chemical Society ( pl, Polskie Towarzystwo Chemiczne, PTCHEM) is a professional scientific society of Polish chemists.
History
The society was founded of 118 Charter Members on 29 June 1919 on the initiative of Leon Marchlewski, Sta ...
. Marie Curie's 1898 publication with her husband and their collaborator
Gustave Bémont of their discovery of radium and polonium was honoured by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society presented to the ESPCI Paris in 2015.
Entities that have been named in her honour include:
* The
curie
In computing, a CURIE (or ''Compact URI'') defines a generic, abbreviated syntax for expressing Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). It is an abbreviated URI expressed in a compact syntax, and may be found in both XML and non-XML grammars. A CURIE ...
(symbol Ci), a unit of radioactivity, is named in honour of her and Pierre Curie (although the commission which agreed on the name never clearly stated whether the standard was named after Pierre, Marie, or both).
* The element with atomic number 96 was named
curium.
* Three radioactive minerals are also named after the Curies:
curite
Curite is a lead uranium oxide mineral with formula: Pb3(UO2)8O8(OH)6·3(H2O). It is named after the physicists Marie and Pierre Curie
Pierre Curie ( , ; 15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, ma ...
,
sklodowskite
Sklodowskite is a uranium mineral with the chemical formula: Mg(UO2)2(HSiO4)2·5H2O. It is a secondary mineral which contains magnesium and is a bright yellow colour, its crystal habit is acicular, but can form in other shapes. It has a Mohs ha ...
, and
cuprosklodowskite
Cuprosklodowskite is a secondary uranium mineral formed by alteration of earlier uranium minerals. Its empirical formula is Cu(UO2)2(HSiO4)2·6(H2O). Cuprosklodowskite is a nesosilicate mineral, It is grass green to dark green in color, and its c ...
.
* The
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellowship program of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
for young scientists wishing to work in a foreign country is named after her.
* In 2007,
a metro station in Paris was renamed to honour both of the Curies.
* the sole Polish nuclear reactor in operation, the research
reactor Maria, is named after her.
* The
7000 Curie
7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube.
As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...
asteroid is also named after her.
* A
KLM
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...
McDonnell Douglas MD-11
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an American tri-jet wide-body airliner manufactured by American McDonnell Douglas (MDC) and later by Boeing.
Following DC-10 development studies, the MD-11 program was launched on December 30, 1986.
Assembly of ...
(registration PH-KCC) is named in her honour.
* In 2011, a new
Warsaw bridge over the
Vistula River
The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland.
The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...
was named in her honour.
* In January 2020,
Satellogic
Satellogic is a company specializing in Earth-observation satellites, founded in 2010 by Emiliano Kargieman and Gerardo Richarte.
Satellogic began launching their Aleph-1 constellation of ÑuSat satellites in May 2016.
On 19 December 2019, Sa ...
, a high-resolution
Earth observation
Earth observation (EO) is the gathering of information about the physical, chemical, and biological systems of the planet Earth. It can be performed via remote-sensing technologies (Earth observation satellites) or through direct-contact sensors ...
imaging and analytics company, launched a
ÑuSat type
micro-satellite; ÑuSat 8, also known as Marie, was named in her honour.
* The
Marie-Curie station
Marie-Curie (known as Technoparc during development) is an under-construction underground Réseau express métropolitain (REM) station in the borough of Saint-Laurent in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Scheduled to open in 2027, it is planned to be o ...
, a planned underground
Réseau express métropolitain
The Réseau express métropolitain (REM; en, Metropolitan Express Network) is a light metro rapid transit system under construction in Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. When completed in 2025, the system will link several Montreal suburbs and ...
(REM) station in the borough of
Saint-Laurent in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
is named in her honour. A nearby road, Avenue Marie Curie, is also named in her honour.
* The
molecular docking task CurieMariedock is a component of the Slovenian
distributed computing
A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed computing is a field of computer sci ...
project SiDock (which runs under the aegis of
BOINC
The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC, pronounced – rhymes with "oink") is an open-source middleware system for volunteer computing (a type of distributed computing). Developed originally to support SETI@home, it beca ...
); its focus is
SARS‑CoV‑2.
* Mount Curie in New Zealand's
Paparoa Range
The Paparoa Range is a mountain range in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. It was the first New Zealand land seen by a European – Abel Tasman in 1642. Part of the range has the country's highest protection as a national par ...
was named after her in 1970 by the
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development.
* Department of Scientific and Industria ...
.
Several institutions presently bear her name, including the two Curie institutes which she founded: the
Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, and the ''
Institut Curie
Centre of protontherapy
Institut Curie is one of the leading medical, biological and biophysical research centres in the world.
It is a private non-profit foundation operating a research center on biophysics, cell biology and oncology and a ...
'' in Paris. The
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (MCSU) ( pl, Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie, UMCS) was founded October 23, 1944 in Lublin. It is named in honour of Marie Curie-Sklodowska. Currently the number of students is almost 36,000. The ...
, in
Lublin, was founded in 1944; and the
Pierre and Marie Curie University (also known as Paris VI) was France's pre-eminent science university, which would later merge to form the
Sorbonne University
Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sor ...
. In Britain, the
Marie Curie charity was organized in 1948 to care for the terminally ill.
Two museums are devoted to Marie Curie. In 1967, the
Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum was established in Warsaw's "
New Town", at her birthplace on ''ulica Freta'' (Freta Street).
Her Paris laboratory is preserved as the
Musée Curie, open since 1992.
Curie's likeness has appeared on banknotes, stamps and coins around the world.
She was featured on the Polish late-1980s 20,000-''
złoty''
banknote
A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes were originally issued ...
as well as on the last French 500-
franc
The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...
note, before the franc was replaced by the euro.
Curie-themed postage stamps from
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
, the
Republic of Togo
Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...
,
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...
, and the
Republic of Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
actually show a picture of Susan Marie Frontczak portraying Curie in a 2001 picture by Paul Schroeder.
Her likeness or name has appeared on several artistic works. In 1935, Michalina Mościcka, wife of Polish President
Ignacy Mościcki, unveiled a statue of Marie Curie before Warsaw's Radium Institute; during the 1944
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...
against the
Nazi German
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
occupation, the monument was damaged by gunfire; after the war it was decided to leave the bullet marks on the statue and its pedestal.
Her name is included on the ''
Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations
The Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations (also known as the X-ray Martyrs' Memorial) is a memorial in Hamburg, Germany, commemorating those who died due to their work with the use of radiation, particularly X-rays, in medicine. ...
'', erected in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, Germany in 1936.
In 1955
Jozef Mazur
Jozef C. Mazur (March 17, 1897 – April 23, 1970) was an American stained-glass artist, painter and sculptor. His works can be found signed as Josef Mazur, Joseph Mazur, Joe Mazur, J. C. Mazur as well as a few others.
Life
Mazur was born to ...
created a stained glass panel of her, the
Maria Skłodowska-Curie Medallion
The ''Marie Skłodowska-Curie Medallion'' is one panel from a set of four created by Jozef C. Mazur. It honors Marie Curie and currently resides in the Polish Room at the University at Buffalo Libraries.
History
On August 3, 1955, the University ...
, featured in the
University at Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...
Polish Room.
In 2011, on the
centenary of Marie Curie's second Nobel Prize, an
allegorical
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...
mural was painted on the
façade
A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'.
In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...
of her Warsaw
birthplace
The place of birth (POB) or birthplace is the place where a person was born. This place is often used in legal documents, together with name and date of birth, to uniquely identify a person. Practice regarding whether this place should be a cou ...
. It depicted an infant Maria Skłodowska holding a test tube from which emanated the elements that she would discover as an adult:
polonium
Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84. Polonium is a chalcogen. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character ...
and
radium
Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rathe ...
.
In popular culture
Numerous biographies are devoted to her, including:
*
Ève Curie
Ève Denise Curie Labouisse (; December 6, 1904 – October 22, 2007) was a French and American writer, journalist and pianist. Ève Curie was the younger daughter of Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie. Her sister was Irène Joliot-Curie an ...
(Marie Curie's daughter), ''Madame Curie'', 1938.
*
Françoise Giroud
Françoise Giroud, born Lea France Gourdji (21 September 1916 in Lausanne, Switzerland and not in Geneva as often written – 19 January 2003 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French journalist, screenwriter, writer, and politician.
Biography
Giroud ...
, ''Marie Curie: A Life'', 1987.
*
Barbara Goldsmith
Barbara Goldsmith (May 18, 1931 – June 26, 2016) was an American author, journalist, and philanthropist. She received critical and popular acclaim for her best-selling books, essays, articles, and her philanthropic work. She was awarded four ...
, ''Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie'', 2005.
*
Lauren Redniss, ''Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, a Tale of Love and Fallout'', 2011,
adapted into the 2019 British film.
Marie Curie has been the subject of a number of films:
* 1943: ''
Madame Curie
Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...
'', a U.S. Oscar-nominated film by
Mervyn LeRoy starring
Greer Garson
Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996) was an English-American actress and singer. She was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who became popular during the Second World War for her portrayal of strong women on the hom ...
.
* 1997: ''
Les Palmes de M. Schutz'', a French film adapted from a play of the same title, and directed by
Claude Pinoteau
Claude Pinoteau (25 May 1925 – 5 October 2012) was a French film director and scriptwriter. Born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts de Seine, Île-de-France, France. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, aged 87. (in French) His sister was the actress ...
. Marie Curie is played by
Isabelle Huppert
Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...
.
* 2014: ''
Marie Curie, une femme sur le front'', a French-Belgian film, directed by and starring
Dominique Reymond
Dominique Reymond (born 12 February 1957) is a French actress. She has appeared in more than seventy films since 1984.
She has been to the Geneva Conservatory.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reymond, D ...
.
* 2016: ''
Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge'', a European co-production by
Marie Noëlle
Marie may refer to:
People Name
* Marie (given name)
* Marie (Japanese given name)
* Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973
* Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in T ...
starring
Karolina Gruszka
Karolina Gruszka (born 13 July 1980) is a Polish actress. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television shows since 1996. She was nominated for an award as Best Actress for her role in '' Kochankowie z Marony'' at the 2007 Polish Film Aw ...
.
* 2019: ''
Radioactive
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consi ...
'', a British film by
Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi (; fa, مرجان ساتراپی ; born 22 November 1969) is a French-Iranian graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, film director, and children's book author. Her best-known works include the graphic novel ''Persepolis'' a ...
starring
Rosamund Pike
Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is a British actress. She began her acting career by appearing in stage productions such as ''Romeo and Juliet'' and ''Gas Light''. After her screen debut in the television film ''A Rather English Marriage'' ...
.
Curie is the subject of the 2013 play, ''False Assumptions'', by
Lawrence Aronovitch
Lawrence Aronovitch (born May 25, 1974) is a Canadian playwright and actor based in Ottawa, Ontario. He is the playwright in residence at the Great Canadian Theatre Company. Aronovitch is a graduate of Harvard University, where he studied the his ...
, in which the ghosts of three other women scientists observe events in her life.
Mixing Science With Theatre
– Ottawa Sun, March 2013 Curie has also been portrayed by Susan Marie Frontczak in her play, ''Manya: The Living History of Marie Curie'', a one-woman show which by 2014 had been performed in 30 U.S. states and nine countries.
See also
* Charlotte Hoffman Kellogg, who sponsored Marie Curie's visit to the US
* Eusapia Palladino
Eusapia Palladino (alternative spelling: ''Paladino''; 21 January 1854 – 16 May 1918) was an Italian Spiritualist physical medium. She claimed extraordinary powers such as the ability to levitate tables, communicate with the dead through ...
: Spiritualist medium
Medium may refer to:
Science and technology
Aviation
*Medium bomber, a class of war plane
*Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data
* Medium of ...
whose Paris séances were attended by an intrigued Pierre Curie and a skeptical Marie Curie
* Marie Curie Medal
* ''Genius
Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabili ...
'', television series depicting Einstein's life
* List of female Nobel laureates
* List of female nominees for the Nobel Prize
* List of multiple discoveries
Historians and sociologists have remarked upon the occurrence, in science, of " multiple independent discovery". Robert K. Merton defined such "multiples" as instances in which similar discoveries are made by scientists working independently of ea ...
(1898 discovery of thorium
Thorium is a weakly radioactive metallic chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90. Thorium is silvery and tarnishes black when it is exposed to air, forming thorium dioxide; it is moderately soft and malleable and has a high ...
radioactivity)
* List of Poles
This is a partial list of notable Polish or Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Science
Physics
* Czesław Białobrzeski
* Andrzej Buras
* Georges Charpa ...
(Chemistry)
* List of Poles
This is a partial list of notable Polish or Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Science
Physics
* Czesław Białobrzeski
* Andrzej Buras
* Georges Charpa ...
(Physics)
* List of Polish Nobel laureates
This is a list of Nobel laureates who are Poles (ethnic) or Polish (citizenship). The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed on "those who conferred the greatest benefit on humankind", first instituted in 1901. Since 1903, t ...
* Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum, Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
* '' Marie Curie Gargoyle'' (1988), at University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...
* Timeline of women in science
This is a timeline of women in science, spanning from ancient history up to the 21st century. While the timeline primarily focuses on women involved with natural sciences such as astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics, it also includes women f ...
* '' Treatise on Radioactivity'', by Marie Curie
* Women in chemistry
Notes
References
Further reading
Nonfiction
*
*
*
* translated by Lydia Davis
Lydia Davis (born July 15, 1947) is an American short story writer, novelist, essayist, and translator from French and other languages, who often writes short (one or two pages long) short stories. Davis has produced several new translations of ...
.
*
*
*
*
*
*
Fiction
* A 2004 novel by Per Olov Enquist
Per Olov Enquist, also known as P. O. Enquist, (23 September 1934 – 25 April 2020) was a Swedish author. He had worked as a journalist, playwright and novelist.
Biography
Enquist was born and raised in , a village in present-day Skellef ...
featuring Maria Skłodowska-Curie, neurologist
Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...
Jean-Martin Charcot, and his '' Salpêtrière'' patient "Blanche" (Marie Wittman
Marie "Blanche" Wittman (often spelled Wittmann; April 15, 18591913) was a French woman known as one of the hysteria patients of Jean-Martin Charcot. She was institutionalized in La Salpêtrière in 1877, and was treated by Charcot until his de ...
). The English translation was published in 2006.
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curie, Marie
1867 births
1934 deaths
19th-century French chemists
19th-century French inventors
19th-century French physicists
19th-century French women scientists
19th-century Polish chemists
19th-century Polish inventors
19th-century Polish physicists
19th-century Polish women scientists
20th-century French chemists
20th-century French inventors
20th-century French physicists
20th-century French women scientists
20th-century Polish chemists
20th-century Polish inventors
20th-century Polish physicists
20th-century Polish women scientists
Burials at the Panthéon, Paris
Congress Poland emigrants to France
Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)
Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Marie
Marie may refer to:
People Name
* Marie (given name)
* Marie (Japanese given name)
* Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973
* Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tr ...
Deaths from anemia
Discoverers of chemical elements
Experimental physicists
Former Roman Catholics
French agnostics
French atheists
French Nobel laureates
French nuclear physicists
French women chemists
French women physicists
Honorary Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Inventors killed by their own invention
Légion d'honneur refusals
Members of the Lwów Scientific Society
Naturalized citizens of France
Nobel laureates in Chemistry
Nobel laureates in Physics
Nobel laureates with multiple Nobel awards
Nuclear chemists
People from Warsaw Governorate
Polish agnostics
Polish atheists
Polish governesses
Polish Nobel laureates
Polish nuclear physicists
Radioactivity
Recipients of the Matteucci Medal
Scientists from Warsaw
University of Paris alumni
University of Paris faculty
Victims of radiological poisoning
Women inventors
Women Nobel laureates
Women nuclear physicists