Radium is a chemical element. It can emit rays that are invisible to people, can naturally emit light and heat without resorting to external force, and contains a lot of energy. The discovery of radium caused great changes in science and philosophy, opening the door for mankind to explore the mysteries of the atomic world. Because radium can be used to treat incurable cancers, it also brings good news to human health. Therefore, radium is known as the "great revolutionary".
The person who discovered the element radium was an outstanding female scientist. Her original name was Marie Sklodowska, who later became known to the world as Marie Curie.
Marie Curie was born in Poland on November 7, 1867. In 1895, while studying in Paris, she married French scientist Pierre Curie.
In 1896, French physicist Henri Becquerel discovered elemental radiation. However, he only discovered the existence of this kind of light. As for its true identity, it is still a mystery. This aroused great interest in Marie Curie and aroused the curiosity and courage of the explorer she had in childhood. She thought this was an excellent research topic and discussed it with her husband, Pierre.
“This topic is well chosen,” said Pierre. “The Bechler line was discovered only two years ago. I think no one has studied it yet. If the nature and source of this ray are discovered, we can write An excellent paper. However, it is a difficult matter and there are many difficulties."
"I know," Mary said with a smile, "but it doesn't matter, with a respected teacher like you. , you will definitely succeed! "To study radioactive elements, you need a spacious laboratory. Pierre ran around here and there, and finally borrowed a small, cold and damp workshop at the physics and chemistry school where he used to work.
There are very few experimental instruments, the roof is leaking, and the walls are ventilated. The conditions are really bad. But Madame Curie didn't care and concentrated on her experiments. During the course of her research, she discovered that it was not only uranium that emitted that strange light, but also thorium. She called these rays "rays."
In further research, Marie Curie discovered that there may be another substance that can emit light. This light is much stronger than the light emitted by uranium. She believes that this new substance, a new element that has not yet been discovered, only exists in minerals in very small amounts. She named it "radium", which in Latin means "radiation". Pierre also agreed with this view, but many scientists at the time did not believe it. They thought this might be an error in the experiment, and some people even said: "If there is really that element, please extract it and let us have a look!"
In order to obtain radium, the Curies had to extract it from asphalt. Radium is separated from uranium ore. How can they get enough pitchblende? This kind of mine is very rare, the content of uranium in the mine is very small, and the price is very expensive. They can't afford it at all. Later, they received a ton of bitumen ore residue from which uranium had been extracted as a gift from the Austrian government, and began experiments to extract pure radium.
In a simple shack, Madame Curie had to boil thousands of kilograms of asphalt ore residue in pots, and she had to use a stick to constantly stir the pot; it took a lot of time to move it. A large distilling flask to pour hot solution in and out. In this way, after 3 years and 9 months of hard work, in 1902, the Curies finally extracted 0.1 grams of radium salt from the slag, and then preliminarily determined the atomic weight of radium.
In 1906, Pierre Curie died in an accidental car accident. Marie Curie was extremely sad, but this did not shake her will to devote herself to science. She was determined to continue the scientific career pioneered with her husband. In 1910, Marie Curie successfully isolated metallic radium, analyzed various properties of the radium element, and accurately determined its atomic weight. In the same year, Marie Curie published her famous book "On Radioactivity" and attended the International Council of Radiology. At the meeting, a radioactive unit named after Curie was formulated, and the international standard for radium proposed by Marie Curie was adopted.
Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize twice. She is the first female professor at the University of Paris and the first female academician of the French Academy of Sciences. She is also appointed as an academician of the academies of sciences in 15 other countries. During her lifetime, *** received 24 prizes and medals from 7 countries, and held 104 honorary positions in 25 countries. But Madame Curie never pursued fame and fortune. She regards devoting herself to science and benefiting mankind as her lifelong purpose.
Marie Curie and her husband decided to give up the patent for refining radium.
She believed that was against the spirit of science. She once told an American female reporter: "Radium should not make anyone rich. Radium is a chemical element and should belong to the whole world." The reporter asked her: "If you could choose from all the things in the world, which one would you like best?" What do you want?" She replied: "I would like to have a gram of pure radium for scientific research. I can't afford it, it is too expensive!" It turned out that after her husband's death, Mrs. Curie gave them the income from several years of hard work. , radium worth millions of francs was given to the University of Paris laboratory. The reporter was deeply moved. After she returned to the United States, she wrote a large number of articles to introduce the Curies and called on the American people to launch a donation campaign to donate one gram of pure radium to Marie Curie. In May 1921, President Harding of the United States personally donated this gram of radium to Marie Curie in Washington, the capital. The night before the donation ceremony, Marie Curie insisted on modifying the text on the donation certificate and declared again: "The gram of radium donated to me by the United States should always belong to science and must not become my personal property."
In her later years, Marie Curie worked at the Radium Research Institute and personally guided young scientists from foreign countries in their research work. Among the many outstanding scientists she trained are Zheng Dazhang, the founder of radiochemistry in China, and Professor Shi Shiyuan, a physicist.
Due to long-term severe damage from radioactive substances, Marie Curie suffered from leukemia and died on July 4, 1934. Einstein, the founder of the theory of relativity who had a noble and sincere friendship with Marie Curie, said in memory of her: "The greatest scientific achievement in her life - proving the existence of radioactive elements and isolating them - so she was able to achieve, Not only by bold intuition, but also by the enthusiasm and tenacity of working under unimaginable and extremely difficult circumstances. Such difficulties are rare in the history of experimental science.