Maria Skolodovskaya, the famous Marie Curie, is known as the "Mother of Radium."
Marie Curie was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, the capital of Poland under the rule of the Tsarist Russian invaders. She was the youngest of five children in her family. His father is a professor of physics at the Warsaw Higher School. Her 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 and shows a tenacious 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. In 1886, she began to work as a long-term tutor and also studied various subjects by herself. In 1891, she went to the University of Paris to study physics and mathematics, and obtained two master's degrees. After completing her studies, she originally planned to return to her motherland to serve the enslaved Polish people, but her acquaintance with the young French physicist Pierre Curie (1859-1906) changed her plans. In 1895, she married Pierre, and in 1897 they gave birth to a daughter, a future Nobel Prize winner. The research work of French physicist Becquerel attracted the attention of Marie Curie. When Becquerel was examining a rare mineral "uranium salt", he discovered a "uranium ray" called Becquerel ray after Wilhelm Roentgen (1845-1923) discovered X-rays. The rays discovered by Becquerel aroused great interest in Marie Curie. Where does the power emitted by the rays come from? Marie Curie saw that no one in any European laboratory had conducted in-depth research on uranium rays, so she decided to break into this field. However, due to the extremely tight equipment and housing of the school at that time, it was impossible to provide Marie Curie with good experimental conditions and places. After Pierre's repeated requests, the principal allowed Marie Curie to use a humid cabin for physical and chemical experiments. The conditions in the Curies' laboratory were extremely poor. In summer, because the ceiling was made of glass, the inside was scorched like an oven by the sun; in winter, it was so cold that people almost froze. The Curies overcame unimaginable difficulties and worked hard for their ideals.
Mrs. Curie received a higher education in chemistry and had rich chemical knowledge. While studying uranium salt ores, she realized that there was no reason why uranium was the only chemical element that could emit radiation. She measured the elements arranged according to Mendeleev's periodic law one by one, and soon discovered that compounds containing thorium could also automatically emit rays, which were similar to uranium rays and had similar intensity. Marie Curie realized that this phenomenon was by no means just a characteristic of uranium and that it had to be given a new name. Marie Curie proposed calling it "radioactive". Uranium, thorium and other substances with this special "radiating" function are called "radioactive elements".
After measuring a large number of minerals that could be collected, Marie Curie discovered that the radioactive intensity of a type of pitchblende was much greater than expected. Careful study revealed that the amounts of uranium and thorium in the pitchblende could not explain the intensity of the radioactivity she observed. Where does this abnormal and excessive radioactivity come from? There can be only one explanation: these asphalt minerals contain small amounts of a new element that is much more radioactive than uranium and thorium. In her previous experiments, Marie Curie had examined all known elements at that time. Marie Curie concluded that this was a new element unknown to humans.
Madame Curie’s discovery attracted Pierre’s attention, and the Curies marched into unknown elements together. In the damp studio, after the Curies worked together to tackle the problem, in July 1898, they announced the discovery of this new element, which was 400 times more radioactive than pure uranium. In order to commemorate Marie Curie's home country - Poland, the new element was named polonium (meaning Poland).
In December 1898, the Curies announced based on experimental facts that they had discovered a second radioactive element. This new element was more radioactive than polonium. They named this new element "radium". However, no one could confirm their discovery at that time, because according to the tradition of the chemical community, when a scientist announces that he has discovered a new element, he must obtain the physical object and accurately measure its atomic weight. However, there was no atomic weight of the needle or radium in Marie Curie's report, and there was no sample of radium on hand. The Curies decided to prove it with physical objects. At that time, pitchblende, which contained polonium and radium, was a very expensive mineral mainly produced in the St. Joachim Star mine in Bohemia. People refined this mineral and extracted it to make colored glass. Uranium salts used. For the Curies, who live very poor lives, how can they have the money to pay for the necessary expenses for this work? Their wisdom supplemented their financial resources. They predicted that after uranium was proposed, the new radioactive elements contained in the minerals must still exist, so they would definitely be found in the mineral residues after refining uranium salts. After countless twists and turns, the Austrian government decided to donate a ton of waste slag to the Curies and promised that if they needed a large amount of slag in the future, it could be supplied under the most favorable conditions. In order to refine radium, Marie Curie immediately launched an extraction experiment. She put more than 20 kilograms of waste slag into a smelting pot to melt it at a time, stirred the boiling material with a thick iron rod for several hours, and then extracted only Contains one part per million of trace substances. They worked from 1898 to 1902. After tens of thousands of refining operations and processing dozens of tons of ore residues, they finally obtained 0.1 gram of radium salt, and their atomic weight was determined to be 225.
Radium was announced!
The Curies confirmed the existence of radium element, which made the whole world pay attention to the phenomenon of radioactivity. The discovery of radium sparked a real revolution in science. Marie Curie completed her doctoral thesis on the subject (Study of Radioactive Substances). In 1903, Marie Curie received a doctorate in physics from the University of Paris. In the same year, the Curies and Becquerel won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
In 1906, Pierre Curie was unfortunately hit and killed by a carriage, but Madame Curie did not fall down. She continued her research and in 1910 she and Andre Debierne (1874-1949) In 1899, the radioactive element actinium (Ac) was discovered from pitchblende ore and pure metallic radium was isolated.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Marie Curie equipped an ambulance with X-ray equipment and drove it to the front line. The International Red Cross appointed her head of the radiology emergency department. With the assistance of her daughters Irene Curie and Martha Klein, Marie Curie gave a course at the Radium Institute to doctors and caregivers in military hospitals, teaching them how to use X-rays. A new technology. In the late 1920s, Marie Curie's health began to decline. Long-term exposure to radiation caused her to suffer from leukemia, and she finally died on July 4, 1934. A few months before this, her daughter Irene Curie and son-in-law Joliot-Curie announced the discovery of artificial radioactivity (for which they won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry).
Mrs. Curie was poor for most of her life, and the arduous process of extracting radium was completed under simple conditions. The Curies refused to patent any of their discoveries in order to allow everyone to freely exploit their discoveries. They used the Nobel Prize and other bonuses for future research. One of the outstanding applications of their research work is the use of radioactivity to treat cancer.
The Curies confirmed the existence of radium element, which made the whole world pay attention to the phenomenon of radioactivity. The discovery of radium sparked a real revolution in science. Marie Curie completed her doctoral thesis on the subject (Study of Radioactive Substances). In 1903, Marie Curie received a doctorate in physics from the University of Paris. In the same year, the Curies and Becquerel won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
In 1906, Pierre Curie was unfortunately hit and killed by a carriage, but Madame Curie did not fall down. She continued her research and in 1910 she and Andre Debierne (1874-1949) In 1899, the radioactive element actinium (Ac) was discovered from pitchblende ore and pure metallic radium was isolated. Marie Curie continued to study the applications of radium in chemistry and medicine, and won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for isolating pure metallic radium.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Marie Curie equipped an ambulance with X-ray equipment and drove it to the front line. The International Red Cross appointed her head of the radiology emergency department. With the assistance of her daughters Irene Curie and Martha Klein, Marie Curie gave a course at the Radium Institute to doctors and caregivers in military hospitals, teaching them how to use X-rays. A new technology. In the late 1920s, Marie Curie's health began to decline. Long-term exposure to radiation caused her to suffer from leukemia, and she finally died on July 4, 1934. A few months before this, her daughter Irene Curie and son-in-law Joliot-Curie announced the discovery of artificial radioactivity (for which they won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry).
Mrs. Curie was poor for most of her life, and the arduous process of extracting radium was completed under simple conditions. The Curies refused to patent any of their discoveries in order to allow everyone to freely exploit their discoveries. They used the Nobel Prize and other bonuses for future research. One of the outstanding applications of their research work is the use of radioactivity to treat cancer.
Research fields:
Radiation physics, chemistry, mathematics
Works:
1. Discovered the radioactive elements polonium (Po) and Radium (Ra)
2. Proposed the idea that rays (now known to be composed of electrons) are negatively charged particles.
Awards awarded:
In her lifetime, Madame Curie won 10 famous prizes including the Nobel Prize, and received medals from high-level international academic institutions. 16; more than 100 various 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, Marie Curie is the only one who is not obsessed with fame.
1. In 1903, the Curies and Becquerel Er *** also won the Nobel Prize in Physics
2. In 1911, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the isolation of pure radium.