Marie Curie - Laborer of the Soul (1)
Marie Curie’s countless honors and fame seem to have nothing to do with this great woman. She is still facing extreme difficulties. Working enthusiastically and tenaciously under the working conditions. This great woman has dedicated her dreams to all mankind, and has already injected nobility and selflessness into her life. She works selflessly not to exchange labor for honor, merit and benefits, but to work for her soul.
Madame Curie’s reputation has spread to the world from the moment she discovered radium. There is no truer portrayal of her life than what Einstein said - "In people like Curie When such a noble figure as Madam ends her life, we should not be satisfied with just recalling the contributions that her work has made to mankind. The significance of a first-class figure to the times and the historical process may be more than simply its moral character. Even the latter, they depend on character to a far greater extent than is usually supposed.
“I was fortunate enough to have a noble and sincere relationship with Madame Curie for 20 years. friendship. I grew to admire the greatness of her personality. Her strength, the purity of her will, her strict self-discipline, her objectivity, her impartial judgment - all of these are rarely concentrated in one person. She was aware at all times that she was a servant of society. Her extreme humility never leaves any room for complacency. Due to the harshness and inequality of society, her mood is always depressed. This gave her a serious appearance that was easily misunderstood by those not close to her—a rare seriousness that could not be explained by any artistic temperament. Once she realizes that a certain path is the right one, she sticks to it uncompromisingly and with extreme tenacity.
“The greatest scientific feat of her life—demonstrating the existence of radioactive elements and isolating them—was achieved not only by daring intuition, but also by working in unimaginable ways. The enthusiasm and tenacity of working under extremely difficult circumstances, such difficulties, are rare in the history of experimental science
"Even a small part of Marie Curie's moral strength and enthusiasm exist in Europe. Among intellectuals, Europe will face a brighter future. ”
Aside from the glorious scientific crown, she faced the lack of material environment, scandals and lawsuits, the unexpected death of Mr. Curie, and the outside world’s doubts about female scientists, but she can still find it in the remaining pride. Strength. And deep in the lonely heart, we see a noble woman, her unswerving persistence in scientific research, her selflessness and love for mankind.
Mrs. Curie’s moral strength and enthusiasm. , as long as there is only a small part among European intellectuals, Europe will face a brighter future
——Einstein
The reason why Marie Curie is so popular. She is respected not only for her scientific genius, but also for her noble moral character and outstanding personality
——Rutherford, the founder of atomic physics
She. She is a rigorous person in nature, and she has never been able to master the pretense that goes with honor. She is not good at becoming a famous figure.
——Madame Curie's eldest daughter, Iliying Curie
When a noble figure like Marie Curie ends her life, we should not be satisfied with just recalling the contribution that her work has made to mankind. In terms of moral character, it may be greater than pure intellectual achievements.
——Einstein
On November 7, 1867, he was born in an apartment building in Warsaw, Poland. She gave birth to a little baby named Marie. This cute little baby lying in the cradle became Marie Curie. Marie’s father was a teacher who taught mathematics and physics in middle school, and her mother was also a teacher and an outstanding student. musician.
In 1891, Mary relied on the money she saved as a tutor to study at the University of Paris in France from Warsaw. In three years, she obtained two bachelor's degrees in physics and mathematics, and was able to work in a research laboratory. opportunity. In 1894, she met Pierre Curie. Curie was an extraordinary physicist, introverted and very caring about society. The ideal of dedicating oneself to science links them forever.
They live in poverty, but work and study are very stressful. In 1896, Frenchman Henri Becquerel discovered the radioactivity of uranium. During the delivery of her eldest daughter, Marie Curie tested 80 elements known at the time one by one and discovered two elements more radioactive than uranium. A strong new element and named the first newly discovered element "Polonium" and the other new element "Radium". However, on a rainy day in April 1906, a tragic tragedy occurred. Mr. Curie, whose health was getting worse due to radiation infection, collided with a carriage in a daze on a bridge in Paris, and the wheels were crushed. The head of the great scientist. The heartbroken Madame Curie lost her partner and her most capable research partner. However, her strong will overcame everything. She endured her grief and independently took on the responsibility of raising her two daughters. At the same time, she succeeded Curie at the University of Paris. Professor's work, entering the laboratory, and continuing research to reform the extraction method of radium.
Although Marie Curie began to conduct independent research from then on, her achievements in the theory and practice of radiology are getting higher and higher. In the winter of 1911, she received a telegram from Stockholm, Sweden, informing her that she had won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry that year. Marie Curie became the first person in history to win the Nobel Prize in Science twice (the first time was in 1903, when the Curies and Becquerel won the Nobel Prize in Physics), and she was a woman.
Even though Marie Curie became a world-recognized outstanding scientist, she was still constantly ignored and suppressed by stubborn conservative forces in the scientific community. In 1911, she accepted the persuasion of her friends and ran for membership of the French Academy of Sciences, but was defeated by one vote. One of the arguments held by opponents is that women cannot become members of the Academy of Sciences. However, fair people admired her, and in December of the same year, she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the second time; soon after, the French Academy of Medical Sciences elected her as an academician.
Marie Curie - Laborer of the Soul (2)
Science is not for personal honor or personal gain, but for the happiness of mankind. This is the principle that Madame Curie and Mr. Curie have always followed. After discovering radium, in order to make radium serve the people as soon as possible, she refused to apply for a patent and immediately disclosed the method of extracting radium, even though her own life was still very difficult at that time. Marie Curie owned three grams of radium in her lifetime. She donated the first gram to science, and the public donated the second and third grams back to her. These three grams of radium demonstrated the great personality of a scientist and thus aroused the public's understanding of science.
Some people think that Marie Curie was incomprehensibly stubborn in her treatment of radium. Since it is for scientific research, wouldn't it be much easier to just sign the patent?
Mrs. Curie answered this question in her autobiography: "Many of my friends insisted that if Pierre Curie and I had retained our rights, we could have obtained the necessary funds to To build a satisfactory Radium Institute, all the difficulties that have hindered both of us before and that still hinder me can be avoided. What they say is not unreasonable, but I still believe that we need people who are good at practice. , they can gain great benefits from their work, not forgetting the welfare of the public, but also protecting their own interests. But human beings also need dreamers. Such people are obsessed with the selfless development of a cause and therefore cannot pay attention to themselves. Material benefits.”
While Marie Curie contributed radium to mankind, she also contributed another kind of value.
In 1914, World War I broke out, and the Germans frantically invaded French territory. Marie Curie - this Polish woman can never forget her motherland, Poland, nor her second motherland, France. At this critical juncture, she once again showed the brave and creative spirit she had when doing research.
Madame Curie served the wounded soldiers out of a great spirit of dedication. She never asked the battlefield authorities to give her any special treatment, and she was never willing to increase other people's troubles for her sake. She put aside her pretense of being a famous scholar and just wanted to work like an ordinary person. If anything, she is more skilled, more careful, and more responsible than ordinary people. In extremely cold weather, people can see her driving a car by herself, repairing a car by herself, and assembling X-ray equipment by herself.
When the war ended, Madame Curie was 51 years old. With persistent courage and perseverance, she returned to the Radium Research Institute that she had prepared and equipped. From 1919 to 1934, Marie Curie continued her research work and taught rising stars from all walks of life. In the Radium Institute, a large group of young scholars surrounded her: she was the one who assigned them work, she was the one who solved their problems, and she was the one who encouraged and supported them. Among the tasks completed under her step-by-step inspiration and guidance, who can say how many achievements were achieved without relying on her?
On a sunny afternoon in May 1934, Madame Curie worked in the laboratory until half past three. She felt extremely tired and whispered to her colleagues: "I have a fever. I need to die." Go home first." This was the last time Madame Curie left her Radium Institute one and a half months before her death.
In accordance with her last will and testament, people buried her coffin in the same cave as Mr. Curie. On her tombstone, there is only a simple line: "Marie Sklodowska Curie, 1867-1934."
The greatest scientist of the 20th century, Marie Curie's good friend Friend - Einstein once said: Among all famous figures, Madame Curie is the only one who is not turned upside down by honor. This is probably the most realistic portrayal of her life!
Madame Curie’s Dream
When Einstein deeply missed his 20-year noble and sincere friendship with Marie Curie, he said that the bond that maintained their friendship was Completely out of admiration for Marie Curie's great personality. He highly summarized Madame Curie’s great personality in the most incisive language, that is – “She was aware at all times that she was a public servant of society. Her extreme modesty never left any room for complacency.… Once she realized that a certain path was right, she insisted on it uncompromisingly and with extreme tenacity."
Mrs. Curie originally had many opportunities to make a fortune, but she rejected them all. I take fame very lightly. Before she received various bonuses, she was so poor that she couldn't even afford medical expenses. Later, people advised her to apply for a patent for radium, but she flatly refused. Before the First World War, radium had risen to US$100,000 per gram, but Marie Curie still had no savings. After the war, when she became a world celebrity and was often invited by governments around the world, she did not even have a decent dinner dress. No.
Human beings do need people who pay attention to their own actual interests. They work hard and seek their own interests, which are not inconsistent with the general interests of mankind; but a great person always shoulders a greater mission, and fundamentally No time to take care of your own interests. As Marie Curie herself said: "Human beings are also indispensable for idealistic people. They pursue the lofty realm of selflessness, have no selfishness, and have no time to take into account their own material interests."
"In In science, we should pay attention to things, not people." This was Madame Curie's persistent spirit in studying science, but once science was applied to people, she showed her incomparable care for the society. During the First World War, she worked hard and loudly raised funds to purchase X-ray machines that were extremely expensive at the time and sent them to the battlefield. She also went to frontline hospitals to teach medical staff how to use them. Many military doctors and wounded soldiers were deeply moved when they saw with their own eyes the places where bullets were lodged in their bodies and were rescued.
Destiny bestowed countless honors on Marie Curie, but she was not burdened by it. She continued to work hard until she passed away at the age of 67 and left her beloved laboratory. Until 40 years after her death, radiation was still being released from the notebook she used. Einstein said: “Of all the famous people in the world, Marie Curie is the only one who has not been spoiled by fame.
"She uses things to seek the world, is extraordinary, knows her own goals, and even knows her own value. She makes us understand that people have multiple values ??and need to be developed at multiple levels.
Marie Curie - —The Laborer of the Soul (3)
I read this sentence in Marie Curie's "My Belief": "Human beings need people who seek reality, and they get the maximum reward at work. But human beings also need dreamers - they are strongly attracted to the development of a selfless cause, leaving them with no leisure or enthusiasm to pursue material interests. "Madame Curie divided the people needed by human beings into two categories: the former are understandable in exchange for rewards through labor, because human beings want to survive, and the progress of this world is indispensable for the promotion of this type of people, from the most ordinary field workers to The astronauts on the space shuttle, from busy politicians to ordinary workers, are rewarded with a kind of self-recognition. However, once the focus is on the reward, his labor loses its due value. This is also true. For the materialization of self-labor, he only regards his labor as material exchange. This kind of labor lacks the corresponding human spirit. Such people are the most despicable, like some singers who are full of style and lack of confidence, and like some people who are rich and careless and narrow-minded. The wealthy people, like some officials who seek power for personal gains and corrupt the law, seek rewards that are the result of selling themselves, and they have lost their souls.
What Madame Curie appreciated was the latter: Human beings need dreamers. The kind of people who only have dreams but no achievements. She refers to the kind of people who transcend worldly distractions and devote themselves to a certain cause. Such people just dream of letting their spirits fly freely through their own efforts. They are selfless. Work is not at all about exchanging labor for honor, merit or benefit. They are about working for their souls. Madame Curie used her outstanding wisdom to confirm her dreams. The scientific career she engaged in constituted the main part of her life. . She discovered radium but did not keep it for herself. When Madame Curie's dream became the wealth of all mankind, people's happiness was the best reward for her.
Be such a dreamer. Yes, when human beings are becoming more objectified and alienated, the world needs dreamers even more. When more and more people pursue benefits and material things, there is still a need for some. People need to think, explore, and dream, otherwise, this planet will be the same as death. I believe that the more someone completely gives up on dreams, the sacred, and the sublime, the more someone needs to dream and sing. To be sacred, someone needs to be noble. There are not many such people, but they can represent an era. Only when this era passes, people will discover the important position they occupy in that era. Only these few people. The essence of that era, only their dreams were the brightest stars in the night sky of that era. Qu Yuan, Li Bai, Su Shi, Cao Xueqin, Homer, Mozart, Beethoven, Bruno, Proust, Kafka...these dreamers used Their thoughts illuminate the time behind them, and their dreams become the only spiritual wealth of all mankind. Their dreams will last forever with the world.
Einstein and Madame Curie
Female chemist who loves her country and her people - Marie Curie
Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934) was a French chemist and physicist born in Poland. Warsaw, formerly known as Marie Sklodowska, later changed her name to Marie Curie or Madame Curie after marrying the French physicist Pierre Curie
Graduated in Poland in 1883. Warsaw High School. In 1891, he was admitted to the University of Paris, France. In 1893, he received a bachelor's degree in science from the University of Paris with first place in physics. The following year, he received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Paris with second place in mathematics. In 1903, he received a doctorate. In 1906, she became the first female professor at the University of Paris and the first female academician of the French Academy of Sciences. On July 4, 1934, Marie Curie suffered from leukemia and died in a sanatorium in Champs-Savoie, France. She was 67 years old.
Marie Curie was the founder and founder of radiochemistry and radiophysics.
After nearly 10 years of patient experiments under very difficult conditions, she discovered and separated two new elements, polonium and radium. In memory of her great motherland, Poland, the first element she discovered was named Polonium.
Marie Curie also used the radioactive elements she discovered in medicine, pioneering radioactive therapy, thus saving the lives of millions of cancer patients. She won the Nobel Prize twice in her life - in Physics in 1903 and in Chemistry in 1911. She was the only female scientist to have this honor. In addition, she has held 104 honorary positions in 25 countries and won 24 awards. Her main works include "Isotopes and Their Compositions", "On Radioactivity" and "Research on Radioactive Materials and Their Radiation".
Nobel Prize winners running on the front lines
In 1914, World War I broke out in Europe. At the beginning of the war, the German-Austrian forces relied on their artillery superiority to repeatedly break through the French defense lines and penetrate deep into France. The French government calls on the people to protect the safety of the motherland. Marie Curie, who won the Nobel Prize twice, also rushed to the front line risklessly to participate in this battle that was related to the safety of France.
At this time, Marie Curie was almost 50 years old. Regardless of her own frail health, she used women's donations to purchase the latest ambulance equipped with a lightweight X-ray machine and presented it to the French Women's Federation. She then personally led her daughter Joliot Curie to the front line. Participate in rescue work.
Marie Curie was an expert in radiochemistry and radiophysics. She had superb X-ray photography skills and her meticulous spirit. She would go wherever the battle was the fiercest, and was favored by the soldiers. A warm welcome. The soldiers warmly hailed this patriotic female scientist for being able to come among the soldiers when France was in crisis, share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, and save the lives of injured soldiers.
Because of her patriotism and high sense of responsibility, Marie Curie was later appointed by the French High Command as the head of the Radiation Service.
Study for the glory of the motherland
Marie Curie was originally from Poland. At that time, Poland was under the iron heel rule of the Russian Czar and suffered discrimination from foreign rulers. When she was a teenager, she studied hard with the ambition to win glory for her country and use science to revitalize her motherland. In 1891 she was admitted to the Faculty of Science of the University of Paris in France.
It is true that Paris is by no means a paradise for the poor foreign girl. She lives in a cold and dilapidated pavilion. In the early morning, she often went to school with brown bread in her mouth, and for dinner, she used an alcohol lamp to cook the simplest food to satisfy her hunger. She often reads late into the night and often trembles with hunger. In order to reduce her sister's burden on her huge tuition fees, Mary had to use her spare time to work and earn a meager salary to make up for the shortfall.
It was this poor Polish female student who ranked first in every exam. When she graduated, she ranked first in the school in physics and second in mathematics, becoming a double major in physics and mathematics. He was deeply favored by the famous mathematician and physicist Schenka and was recommended to stay in the school. At the same time, the famous physicist Lippmann also granted her permission to conduct experiments in his then world-class laboratory. In 1896, Paris held the city's university assistant examination, and Marie topped the list again. From then on, she became a young female teacher attracting attention in various universities in Paris.
Mary studied hard and achieved excellent results, which brought glory to the Poles who were still in the Tsarist colony at the time.
Name it polonium to commemorate the great Poland
In 1895, Marie married the physicist Pierre Curie. From then on, the couple devoted themselves to the research of radioactive elements.
Marie Curie used an electroscope to test the radioactivity of many substances and found that pitchblende was extremely radioactive. She initially concluded that it must contain radioactive substances much stronger than uranium. So she decided to extract it. However, this is easier said than done. First, the asphalt ore must be decomposed, and then separated and purified countless times before it is possible to capture new elements. This job is really like finding a needle in a haystack.
However, the most difficult thing is not difficult for this female scientist. In the absence of funds and equipment, Marie Curie asked her husband Curie to temporarily give up physics research to fully assist her in the battle to capture new elements.
In order to realize his wife's ambition, Curie resolutely agreed to her request and jointly took on the work of processing a large amount of pitchblende ore.
Tons of pitchblende ore was shipped from Austria, but it was impossible to find a laboratory that could process such a large amount of uranium ore. Therefore, Marie Curie had to borrow a damp and airless warehouse from the school as a laboratory. The room temperature in winter is only 6℃, and in summer it is hot and stuffy. When the Curies were stressed at work, they had no choice but to eat cold bread and drink cold milk to satisfy their hunger. In this simplest laboratory, the two of them created world-class scientific research results.
Pitchblende contains a large number of impurities, including bismuth, copper, lead, iron, uranium, thorium... dozens of compounds, which must be dissolved with acid first, and then hydrogen sulfide is added to precipitate them one by one. Separate in groups. Finally, a new radioactive element was discovered in the bismuth sulfide precipitate. This is the brainchild of the couple over several years.
What is the name of the new element?
Marie Curie said to her husband: "Although I became a French citizen after marrying you, I still miss the suffering motherland that gave birth to me and raised me - Poland. , let me name it polonium to commemorate that great and suffering motherland!" Curie understood his wife's painstaking efforts and readily agreed.
Don’t be a millionaire and dedicate scientific achievements to mankind
From the day they discovered polonium, Marie and Curie started a new work. Because the couple had detected traces of a new element and were ready to make persistent efforts to capture it. Because according to the traditional concept, confirming the discovery of an element should provide a sufficiently pure compound or elemental sample of the element that can be observed. Just when the work was about to be completed, something unfortunate happened. Pierre Curie unfortunately died in a car accident on April 19, 1906, which caused Marie to lose one of her most loyal and close comrades. However, she was not discouraged and turned her grief into strength. The next year, she extracted a small amount of pure radium salt from tons of uranium mineral waste, and finally captured a new element - radium.
Radium can be used to treat cancer. When Pierre Curie was still alive, many capitalists knew that radium would be used for medical treatment and make money. As a result, many people asked to see the Curies and were willing to pay a lot of money to buy their inventions. At that time, there were two choices before the Curies: one was to turn their results into patents and make themselves millionaires; the other was to make the scientific research results public for free and dedicate them to all mankind.
One day, Curie said to his wife: "Dear, among the following two options, we must decide immediately which one to choose. Either make our results public, or register a patent immediately to obtain a patent. "Right." As a result, Marie said categorically: "We must not violate the spirit of science, and we must not profit from it."
Marie Curie did what she said. At the extremely painful moment of her husband's death, she refused all businessmen who came to buy the results and provided technical data free of charge to the French radium smelting plant used for medicine. The radiation therapy pioneered by her saved millions of lives, and she took no money from it. How noble and noble her spirit is!
Dedicated to science
The radioactive elements discovered by Marie Curie were soon used to treat cancer and saved countless lives, but she herself sacrificed her precious life for this life.
Although radioactive elements such as radium can be used to treat cancer, a healthy person who is exposed to radioactive elements for a long time will be prone to cancer. The reason is that when human cells are exposed to rays emitted by radioactive elements for a long time, they will mutate and develop cancer.
In Marie Curie’s time, the dangers of radioactive elements were not as clearly understood as they are now. Today, people who are exposed to radioactive elements and X-rays and other rays must wear protective clothing to protect themselves. Marie Curie did not take any precautions at the time, which caused Marie Curie, who had been dealing with radioactive elements for a long time, to develop leukemia, a type of blood cancer.
Suffering from leukemia, Marie Curie was admitted to a sanatorium in June 1934. One month later - July 4th, Marie Curie gave her precious life for the cause of human science.
This goes against the spirit of science. We should not use this for profit. "They gave this great discovery to the industrial and medical circles for widespread use without seeking any personal gain.
The huge Nobel prize was not a big deal for the always poor Marie Curie. She ignored it and gave away a large amount of bonus to Polish college students, poor girlfriends, laboratory assistants, female students without money, teachers who taught her, and relatives who supported her. Many friends blamed her for not giving this money. She left her property to her children, but what she left to her children was her independent and unruly spirit and her noble moral character that despised utilitarianism.
When the German invasion forces approached Paris in 1914, Madame Curie left her. Marie Curie resolutely embarked on the battlefield of the anti-invasion war with her eldest daughter. She studied using the engine of a car to generate electricity and installed a set of X-ray equipment on the car. The soldiers affectionately called it "Little Curie". In the morning, the "Little Curie" in which Madame Curie was riding suddenly had an accident and fell into a roadside trench. Madame Curie was bruised and fell unconscious. This frightened the young driver. She didn't dare to drive a car. A few weeks later, she became a qualified driver. From then on, she drove the car tirelessly from one medical station to another. A diagnosis and treatment station, as soon as you get off the bus, you are involved in the intense battle of fluoroscopy and photography...
For decades, Marie Curie has been engaged in the research of radioactive materials for a long time, coupled with the harsh experimental environment and The protection of her body was not strict enough, and she was often attacked by radioactive elements, which gradually damaged her blood and caused her to suffer from leukemia. She also suffered from lung disease, eye disease, bile disease, kidney disease, and even suffered from insanity. It seems that scientific research is more important than her own health. She once asked doctors to postpone kidney surgery in order to participate in the World Physics Congress; she once returned to China despite illness to attend the opening ceremony of the Radium Institute. She once endured blindness. She continued to carry out scientific research tenaciously until the end of her life. Due to pernicious anemia and high fever, she still asked her daughter to report to her on the work in the laboratory and proofread her writing while lying in bed. "Radioactivity". Marie Curie died on July 4, 1934. She devoted her life completely to the great scientific cause.
Marie Curie's entire scientific career and life path. The above illustrates a truth: the achievement of human intelligence depends to a large extent on character