Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a French-Polish scientist who studied radioactive phenomena and discovered two radioactive elements: radium and polonium. She won the Nobel Prize twice in her life. Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a French-Polish scientist who studied radioactive phenomena and discovered two radioactive elements: radium and polonium. She won the Nobel Prize twice in her life. As an outstanding scientist, Marie Curie had a social influence that ordinary scientists did not have. Especially because she is a pioneer of successful women, her example has inspired many people. Many people heard her story as children, but mostly got a simplified and incomplete impression. What the world knows about Madame Curie. He was largely influenced by his daughter's biography "Madame Curie" published in 1937. This book beautifies the life of Marie Curie and calmly handles the twists and turns she encountered in her life. American biographer Susan Quinn spent seven years collecting unpublished diaries and biographical information from Curie family members and friends. A new book was published last year: "Maria Curie: A Life", which paints a more detailed and in-depth picture of her hard, bitter and struggling life.
Marie Curie: A great scientist who won the Nobel Prize twice
In the history of world science, Marie Curie is an eternal name. This great female scientist has made outstanding contributions in the fields of physics and chemistry with her diligence and talent, and has therefore become the only person to win the Nobel Prize twice in two different disciplines. Famous scientist.
1. Entering the University of Paris through self-study
Marie Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1867. She was the youngest of five children in her family. Her father is a middle school mathematics and science teacher with very limited income, and her mother is also a middle school teacher. Mary's childhood was unfortunate. Her mother contracted a serious infectious disease, and it was her eldest sister who took care of her when she grew up. Later, her mother and eldest sister died of illness one after another when she was less than 10 years old. Her life was filled with hardships. Such a living environment not only cultivated her ability to live independently, but also helped her develop a very strong character since she was a child.
Mary has been very diligent and hard-working since she was a child. She has a strong interest and special hobby in learning. She never lets go of any learning opportunity easily and shows a tenacious and enterprising spirit everywhere. Since elementary school, she has ranked first in every subject. At the age of 15, he graduated from middle school with a gold medal for outstanding results. Her father had previously studied physics at St. Petersburg University. His thirst for scientific knowledge and strong ambition also deeply inspired little Mary. She loved the various instruments in her father's laboratory very much since she was a child. When she grew up, she read many books on natural science, which filled her with fantasy. She was eager to explore the world of science. But her family's financial situation did not allow her to go to college. At the age of 19, she began to work as a long-term tutor and also studied various subjects by herself. In this way, until the age of 24, she finally came to study at the Faculty of Science of the University of Paris. With a strong desire for knowledge, she listened to every class with concentration. The hard study made her physically worse and worse, but her academic performance was always among the best. This not only made her classmates envious, but also surprised the professors. , two years after enrolling, she took the physics bachelor's degree exam with confidence, and she ranked first among 30 candidates. The next year, she obtained a bachelor's degree in mathematics with second place honors.
At the beginning of 1894, Marie accepted a scientific research project on the magnetism of various steels proposed by the French National Council for the Promotion of Industry. In the process of completing this scientific research project, she met Pierre Curie, a teacher at the School of Physics and Chemistry, who was a very accomplished young scientist. They were united by a common desire to use science to benefit mankind. After Mary got married, people respectfully called her Madame Curie. In 1896, Marie Curie completed the job examination for university graduates with first place. The next year, she completed another study on the magnetism of various steels. However, she was not satisfied with the results she had achieved, and was determined to take the PhD exam and determined her own research direction. Standing on a new starting line.
2. The Light of Radium
In 1896, French physicist Becquerel published a work report detailing the uranium element he discovered through many experiments. Uranium and its compounds have a special ability. They can automatically and continuously emit a ray that is invisible to the naked eye. This ray is different from ordinary light and can pass through black paper to make photographic films sensitive. The X-rays discovered by R?ntgen were also different. They could be generated automatically from uranium and uranium salts without high vacuum gas discharge and high voltage. Uranium and its compounds continuously emit rays and radiate energy outwards. This made Madame Curie very interested. Where does this energy come from? What is the nature of this unusual ray? Marie Curie was determined to uncover its secrets. In 1897, Marie Curie selected her own research topic - the study of radioactive substances. This research topic brought her into a new world of science. She worked hard to open up a virgin land, and finally completed one of the most important discoveries in the history of modern science - the discovery of the radioactive element radium, and laid the foundation of modern radiochemistry, making great contributions to mankind.
In experimental research, Marie Curie designed a measuring instrument that can not only detect the presence of rays in a certain substance, but also measure the intensity of the rays. After repeated experiments, she found that the intensity of uranium rays is proportional to the amount of uranium in the material, and has nothing to do with the state of uranium existence and external conditions.
Madame Curie conducted a comprehensive examination of known chemical elements and all compounds, and made an important discovery: an element called thorium can also automatically emit invisible rays. It shows that the phenomenon that elements can emit rays is not just a characteristic of uranium, but a unique characteristic of some elements. She called this phenomenon radioactivity and the elements with this property called radioactive elements. The rays they emit are called "radiation." She also predicted based on the experimental results that minerals containing uranium and thorium must be radioactive; minerals that do not contain uranium and thorium must not be radioactive. Instrumental inspections fully confirmed her predictions. She eliminated those minerals that did not contain radioactive elements, concentrated on those that were, and accurately measured the radioactive intensity of the elements. During the experiment, she found that the radioactive intensity of a kind of pitchblende was much greater than expected. This indicated that the experimental mineral contained a new unknown radioactive element, and the content of this element must be very small, because this This mineral has been accurately analyzed by many chemists. She decisively announced her discovery in her experimental report and worked hard to confirm it through experiments. At this critical moment, her husband Pierre Curie also realized the importance of his wife's discovery and stopped his own research on crystals to study this new element with her. After several months of hard work, they separated a substance mixed with bismuth from the ore. Its radioactive intensity far exceeded that of uranium. This was polonium, which was later listed at No. 84 on the periodic table of elements. A few months later, they discovered another new element and named it radium. However, the Curies did not immediately enjoy the joy of success. When they got a little bit of the new element's compound, they found that their original estimate was too optimistic. In fact, the amount of radium in the ore is less than one part per million. Just because this mixture is extremely radioactive, substances containing trace amounts of radium salts exhibit hundreds of times more radioactivity than uranium.
The road to science is never smooth. The discovery of polonium and radium, and the properties of these new radioactive elements, shook up some of the fundamental theories and basic concepts that had been held for centuries. Scientists have always believed that atoms of various elements are the smallest unit of matter, and atoms are indivisible and unchangeable. According to the traditional view, it is impossible to explain the radiation emitted by radioactive elements such as polonium and radium. Therefore, both physicists and chemists, although they are interested in Marie Curie's research work, still have questions in their minds. Chemists, in particular, are more rigorous. In order to finally confirm this scientific discovery and to further study the various properties of radium, the Curies must separate more and pure radium salts from asphalt ore.
All unknown worlds are mysterious. When research efforts to isolate new elements began, they did not know any of their chemical properties. The only clue to finding the new element is that it is highly radioactive. They created a new chemical analysis method based on this.
But they had no money, no real laboratories, only some simple instruments they bought or designed themselves. For the sake of work efficiency, they conducted research separately. Mr. Curie experimented to determine the properties of radium; Madame Curie continued to refine pure radium salts.
Where there is a will, there is a way! Any secret of nature will be revealed by those who tenaciously attack it. At the end of 1902, Marie Curie refined one-tenth of a gram of extremely pure radium chloride and accurately determined its atomic weight. Since then the existence of radium has been confirmed. Radium is an extremely difficult-to-obtain natural radioactive substance. It is in the form of shiny, white crystals like fine salt. In spectral analysis, it is different from the spectral lines of any known element. Although radium is not the first radioactive element discovered by humans, it is the most radioactive element. Using its powerful radioactivity, many new properties of radiation can be further identified. to enable further practical application of many elements. Medical research has found that radium rays have very different effects on various cells and tissues. Those cells that reproduce quickly are quickly destroyed by radium irradiation. This discovery made radium a powerful tool in the treatment of cancer. Cancerous tumors are composed of cells that reproduce abnormally rapidly, and the damage caused by laser rays is much greater than that of surrounding healthy tissue. This new treatment method was quickly developed in countries around the world. In France, radium therapy is called Curie therapy. The discovery of radium fundamentally changed the basic principles of physics and was of great significance in promoting the development of scientific theories and their practical applications.
3. A mind like gold
Due to the amazing discovery of the Curies, they and Becquerel won the Nobel Prize in Physics in December 1903. The couple's scientific achievements are world-famous, but they extremely despise fame and fortune, and are most tired of boring social activities. They devoted everything to the cause of science without seeking any personal gain. After successfully refining radium, some people advised them to apply for patent rights from the government and monopolize the manufacturing of radium to make a fortune. Marie Curie said: "That goes against the spirit of science. Scientists' research results should be published publicly and should not be subject to any restrictions if others want to develop them." "Besides, radium is good for patients, and we should not use it to make profits." The Curies also gave away a large number of their Nobel Prizes to others.
In 1906, Mr. Curie unfortunately passed away in a car accident. Mrs. Curie suffered tremendous pain. She was determined to redouble her efforts to fulfill their common scientific ambitions. The University of Paris decided that Madame Curie would take over from Mr. Curie to teach physics classes. Marie Curie became the first female professor in the history of the famous University of Paris. When her couple isolated the first batch of radium salts, they began to study the various properties of radiation. Between 1889 and 1904 alone, they published 32 academic reports, recording their exploration of radiological science. In 1910, Marie Curie completed another book, "Monograph on Radioactivity". She also collaborated with others to successfully prepare radium metal. In 1911, Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. A female scientist won the world's highest science award twice in two different scientific fields in less than 10 years. This is a unique thing in the history of world science!
In 1914, the Institute of Radium Science was established in Paris, and Marie Curie served as the research director of the institute. She continued to teach at the university and was engaged in research on radioactive elements. She was generous in spreading scientific knowledge to everyone who wanted to learn. She has been studying and working for 50 years since she was 16 years old. But she still didn't change her strict lifestyle. She has had a high degree of self-sacrifice since she was a child. In her early years, she was willing to work as a servant in other people's homes in order to support her sister's education. While studying in Paris, in order to save lamp oil and heating expenses, she studied in the library every night and did not leave until the library closed. The pitchblende required to extract pure radium was very expensive at the time. They saved bit by bit from their living expenses and bought 8 or 9 tons. After Mr. Curie passed away, Madame Curie bought thousands of tons. The radium, which was extracted with great pains and worth more than 1 million gold francs, was donated free of charge to laboratories researching and treating cancer.
In 1932, the 65-year-old Marie Curie returned to her motherland to attend the opening ceremony of the "Warsaw Radium Institute". Marie Curie has been away from her motherland since her youth and went to France to study. But she never forgot her homeland.
When she was a child, her native Poland was invaded by Tsarist Russia, and she hated the invaders very much. When the couple isolated a new element from the mineral, she named it polonium. This is because the root word for polonium is the same as the name of Poland. She used this to express her deep memory for her motherland, which was enslaved by Tsarist Russia.
On July 14, 1937, Madame Curie died of illness. She eventually died of pernicious anemia. She created and developed radiation science throughout her life, and fearlessly studied highly radioactive substances for a long time, until she finally dedicated her life to this science. During her life, she won 10 prestigious prizes including the Nobel Prize, 16 medals from high-level international academic institutions, and more than 100 titles awarded by governments and scientific research institutions around the world. But she was as modest and cautious as ever. The great scientist Einstein commented: "Of all the famous people I know, Madame Curie is the only one who is not disturbed by fame." Goodbye.