In fact, the Curies gave up their patents as early as 18 years ago and published the purification method of radium without reservation. Madame Curie's explanation is very simple: "No one should get rich from radium, it belongs to all mankind."
Mrs. Malone was puzzled and asked, "Is there nothing you want most in this world?"
"Yes, one gram of radium, for the convenience of my research. But eighteen years later, I can't afford it. Its price is too expensive. "
This unexpected answer surprised Mrs Malone very much. The purification technology of radium has made businessmen all over the world rich, but the discoverer of radium is so difficult! She immediately flew back to the United States and found that the market price of one gram of radium in the United States at that time was100000 dollars. She found ten female millionaires first, thinking that they were all women and rich, and they would definitely give their money to help. Unexpectedly, they all hit a wall. Mrs. maloney realized that this is not only a demand for money, but also a kind of social education, calling on the public to understand science and carry forward the character of scientists. As a result, she ran around among women in the United States and finally succeeded. 1921On May 20th, the President of the United States presented Madame Curie with a gram of radium donated by the public.
A few years later, when Madame Curie wanted to establish a radium research institute in her native Warsaw, Poland, to carry out the work of treating cancer (ái), the American public donated one gram of radium to her again.
Some people think that Madame Curie's stubbornness in dealing with radium is incomprehensible. As long as you sign the word (qiān) on the patent book, won't all the difficulties be solved? Madame Curie later answered this question in her autobiography: "What they said is not unreasonable, but I still believe that my husband and wife are right. Humans need people who are brave in practice. They can get great gains from their work. They can not forget the public welfare, but also protect their own interests. But human beings also need dreamers and need to be obsessed with the selflessness of their careers. "
Madame Curie had three grams of radium in her life. These three grams of radium show the great personality of a scientist.
Main idea
"Three grams of radium" tells the story that Madame Curie had three grams of radium in her life, and shows the world the great personality of Madame Curie as a scientist: even for the sake of science, you can't take scientific research results for yourself. This is another contribution made by Madame Curie while contributing radium to mankind.
Madame Curie's three grams of radium, the first gram was extracted by herself; The second is Mrs. maloney, an American journalist, who runs around among American women for promotion and is donated to her by the American public. The third gram of radium was also donated by the American public. Madame Curie, as the discoverer of radium, was not only not as rich as the American journalists inferred, but also so poor. It is precisely because Madame Curie did not take the patent right of radium for herself, but dedicated it to all mankind.
A passage in Madame Curie's autobiography is difficult to understand. She said, "Human beings need people who are brave in practice. They can get great gains from their work, not forgetting the public welfare, but also safeguarding their own interests. However, human beings also need dreamers and selflessness, which shows two attitudes towards life: one is not forgetting the welfare of the public, but also safeguarding their own interests; One is a selfless idealist who is obsessed with his career. Both kinds of people are beneficial to society. Madame Curie also affirmed the former. But Madame Curie obviously belongs to the latter. She has contributed everything to science and all mankind. Patent right is the right granted by the state to the inventor to exclusively exploit his invention and creation. When the Curies extracted the first gram of radium, they announced the purification method of radium without reservation and gave up the patent. Even if the American public donated two grams of radium to her, one gram for scientific research and one gram for establishing a radium research institute for the motherland, it would have no effect on her. This is where her great personality lies!
The purpose of writing this article is to let students experience the great personality charm of scientists through the study of the text, and get infected and educated from it; The second is to implement the training plan of this group and guide students to think away from Madame Curie's case.