Hope this helps you. One morning in May 1920, an American reporter named Mrs. McLone finally met the discoverer of radium, Marie Curie, in a Paris laboratory after many twists and turns. . The dignified and elegant Marie Curie and the extremely simple (lòu) laboratory left a deep impression on this American reporter. At this time, it had been eighteen years since the advent of radium. Its original value was as high as 750,000 gold francs per gram! The American reporter concluded from this that Marie Curie should have become rich long ago based on this patented technology alone.
In fact, the Curies gave up their patent eighteen years ago and published the radium purification method without reservation. Madame Curie's explanation was unusually plain: "No one should get rich from radium. It belongs to all mankind."
Mrs. McLone asked in confusion: "Isn't there your most beautiful person in this world?" Do you want something?"
"Yes, one gram of radium to facilitate my research. But today, eighteen years later, I can't afford it. It's too expensive."
This unexpected answer surprised Mrs. McLone. Radium purification technology has made businessmen all over the world rich, but the discoverers of radium are so trapped! She immediately flew back to the United States and found out that the market price of one gram of radium in the United States at that time was US$100,000. She first found ten female millionaires, thinking that they were both women and rich, so they would definitely help each other with tens of millions of dollars. Unexpectedly, they all hit a wall. Mrs. McLone realized that this was not just a demand for money, but also a social education calling for the public to understand science and promote the character of scientists. As a result, she campaigned among women across the United States and eventually succeeded. On May 20, 1921, the President of the United States donated one gram of radium donated by the public to Marie Curie.
A few years later, when Marie Curie wanted to establish a radium research institute in her native Warsaw, Poland, to carry out cancer treatment work, the American public once again donated a gram of radium to her. .
Some people believe that Marie Curie was incomprehensibly stubborn in her treatment of radium. As long as you sign the patent, wouldn't all the difficulties be solved? Marie Curie later answered this question in her autobiography: "What they said is not unreasonable, but I still believe that our couple is right. Human beings need people who have the courage to practice, and they can gain great gains from their work, both Not forgetting the welfare of the public, but also protecting one's own interests, human beings also need dreamers and selfless people who are dedicated to their careers."
Mrs. Curie once owned three grams of radium in her life. These three grams of radium show the great personality of a scientist.
Central Idea
"Three Grams of Radium" tells the story of Marie Curie possessing three grams of radium in her life, showing the world Marie Curie's great personality as a scientist: Even if it is for the sake of science, you cannot take the results of scientific research as your own. This is another contribution Madame Curie made while donating radium to mankind.
The first gram of Madame Curie’s three grams of radium was extracted by herself; the second gram was donated to her by the American public after the American journalist Mrs. McLone ran publicity among women across the United States; the third gram was donated to her by the American public. Radium was also donated by the American public. As the discoverer of radium, Madame Curie was not only not as wealthy as the American reporter inferred, but she was also in such a difficult situation precisely because Madame Curie did not take the patent rights of radium as her own, but dedicated it to the All mankind.
It is difficult to understand a passage in Marie Curie’s autobiography. She said, "Human beings need people who have the courage to practice. They can gain great benefits from their work and not forget the welfare of the public while protecting their own interests. But human beings also need dreamers and selfless people who are obsessed with their careers." This passage shows two attitudes towards life: one is to protect one's own interests while not forgetting the welfare of the public; the other is a selfless idealist who is obsessed with career. Both types of people are beneficial to society. Madame Curie also affirmed the former. But Madame Curie obviously belongs to the latter. She contributed everything to science and to all mankind. Patent rights are the exclusive rights granted by the state to inventors to implement their inventions and creations.
When the Curies extracted the first gram of radium, they announced the radium purification method without reservation and gave up the patent. Even the two grams of radium donated to her by the American public, one gram for scientific research and one gram for the creation of the Radium Research Institute for the motherland, were not at all for herself. This is where her great personality lies!
The purpose of selecting this article is, first, to enable students to experience the great personality charm of scientists through the study of the text, and be infected and educated by it; second, to implement the training of this group project to guide students to think beyond the case of Marie Curie.