Pierre curie was born in a doctor's family in May 1859. In childhood and adolescence, I was thoughtful, hard to change my mind, taciturn and slow to respond, unable to adapt to the perfusion knowledge training in ordinary schools and unable to keep up with classes. People say he is mentally retarded, so he has never been to primary and secondary schools since he was a child. His father often took him to the countryside to collect samples of animals, plants and minerals, which cultivated his keen interest in nature and learned how to observe things and explain them. When Madame Curie 14 years old, his parents hired a math and science teacher for him. He has made rapid progress in mathematics and science. 16 years old, after entering the University of Paris for two years, she obtained a bachelor of science degree and a master's degree in physics. 1880, when he was 2 1 year old, he studied the characteristics of crystals with his brother Jacques Curie and found the piezoelectric effect of crystals. 189 1 year, he studied the relationship between magnetism and temperature, and established Curie's law: paramagnetic material's magnetization coefficient is inversely proportional to absolute temperature. In his scientific research, he also created and improved many new instruments, such as piezoelectric crystal scale, Curie balance and Curie electrometer. 1895 On July 25th, pierre curie married Marie Curie.
Marie Curie (1867165438+1October 7) was born in Warsaw under the rule of Russia, and her father was a middle school teacher. 16 years old, she graduated from Warsaw Middle School with a gold medal. She had to be a tutor for six years because her family couldn't afford to continue her studies. Later, with my own savings and the help of my sister, 189 1 went to Paris to study. At the University of Paris, she studied diligently under extremely difficult conditions. Four years later, she got two master's degrees in physics and mathematics.
In the second year after the Curie couple got married, that is, 1896, Bacquerel discovered the radioactive phenomenon of uranium salt, which aroused great interest of the young couple. Madame Curie was determined to study the nature of this unusual phenomenon. She first examined all the chemical elements known at that time and found that thorium and thorium compounds were also radioactive. She further examined the radioactivity of various complex minerals and unexpectedly found that the radioactivity of pitchblende was more than four times higher than that of pure uranium oxide. She concluded that uranium ore obviously contains a more radioactive element besides uranium.
Based on his experience as a physicist, Curie immediately realized the importance of this research achievement, put down his crystal research and joined Madame Curie in searching for new elements. Soon after, they determined that uranium ore contained not one element, but two undiscovered elements. 1in July, 898, they named polonium for the first time to commemorate Madame Curie's native Poland. Not long after, 1898 65438+ February, they named another element radium. They worked hard to obtain pure polonium and radium. I worked day and night in a broken shed for four years. I stirred the boiling pitchblende slag in the pot with an iron bar, and my eyes and throat endured the stimulation of smoke from the pot. After repeated refining, I got one tenth of radium from several tons of pitchblende slag. Due to the discovery of radioactivity, the Curies and Bacquerel won the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics.
1906, pierre curie died in a car accident at the age of 47. After pierre curie's death, Madame Curie endured great grief and succeeded her husband as a professor of physics at the University of Paris, becoming the first female professor at the university. She continued her research work on radioactivity. 19 10, she and French chemist Debel Nuo analyzed the pure radium element, and determined the atomic weight and position of radium in the periodic table. She also measured the half-lives of radon and other radioactive elements and sorted out the systematic relationship of radioactive element decay. Because of these great achievements, he won the Nobel Prize in chemistry at 19 1 1, becoming the only scientist who won the Nobel Prize twice in history.
The Curies personally experienced the physiological effects of radium, and they were burned by laser rays more than once. Together with doctors, they studied the application of radium in cancer treatment and started radiotherapy. During the First World War, she participated in the battlefield health service for the motherland Poland and the second motherland France, organized X-ray cars and X-ray studios to serve the wounded soldiers, and treated the wounded soldiers with radium, which played a great role.
After World War II, Madame Curie returned to Paris, where she established the Radium Science Institute to continue her research and train young scholars. In his later years, he completed the refining of polonium and actinium. Madame Curie has been engaged in radium research for 35 years without any protective facilities. In addition, during the war, she established an X-ray room for four years, which seriously damaged her health and caused her severe anemia. She had to leave her beloved laboratory on May 1934 and passed away on July 4 1934.
The curies were indifferent and humble all their lives. They don't like worldly compliments and compliments, and they don't care about personal reputation and status. After radium was discovered and successfully extracted, they did not apply for a patent and did not reserve any rights. They believe that radium is an element and should belong to all mankind. They disclosed their method of extracting radium to the whole world. It took them more than ten years to prepare more than one gram of radium, worth about100000 dollars, and all of them were handed over to the Radium Research Institute without taking a penny. One gram of radium donated by the American Women's Association was not used for private purposes, half of it was given to the French Radium Institute and the other half was given to the Radium Institute in Warsaw. When radium was used to treat cancer, they could have become millionaires overnight, but they agreed not to take away all the material benefits of their invention. The purpose of their hard work is to obtain happiness for mankind from new discoveries.
Mendeleev and the periodic table of elements
What is the universe made of? The ancient Greeks believed that it was the four elements of water, earth, fire and air, and China believed in the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth in ancient times. In modern times, people gradually realize that there are many elements, not just four or five. In the18th century, scientists have explored more than 30 elements, such as gold, silver, iron, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. By the19th century, 54 elements had been discovered.
People will naturally ask, how many elements have not been discovered? Do these elements exist separately or are they interrelated?
Mendeleev discovered the periodic law of elements and solved the mystery.
It turns out that the molecules are not a mob, but like a well-trained army, arranged in an orderly manner according to strict orders. How to arrange them? Mendeleev found that elements with equal or similar atomic weights have similar properties; Moreover, the nature and atomic weight of elements change periodically.
Mendeleev was very excited. He arranged more than 60 elements discovered at that time into a table according to atomic weight and properties, and found that every eight counts from any element were similar to the properties of the first element. He called this law "octave".
How did Mendeleev discover the periodic law of elements?
1834 On February 7th, Ivanovich Mendeleev was born in Polsk, Siberia. His father is the headmaster of a middle school. /kloc-entered the natural science education department of St. Petersburg Teachers College at the age of 0/6. After graduation, Mendeleev went to Germany for further study, specializing in physical chemistry. 186 1 returned to China and became a professor at St. Petersburg university.
Mendeleev found that the Russian textbook of Inorganic Chemistry was outdated, and the foreign textbooks could not meet the new teaching requirements, so he urgently needed a new inorganic chemistry textbook that could reflect the development level of contemporary chemistry.
This idea inspired the young Mendeleev. Mendeleev encountered a difficult problem when he wrote a chapter on the properties of chemical elements and their compounds. In what order do you arrange their positions? At that time, 63 chemical elements were discovered in the field of chemistry. In order to find a scientific classification method of elements, he had to study the internal relations between elements.
Studying the history of a subject is the best way to grasp the development process of this subject. Mendeleev has a deep understanding of this. He walked into the library of St. Petersburg University and sorted out countless volumes of original materials on the classification of chemical elements in the past. ...
Mendeleev grasped the historical context of chemists' research on element classification, and he was obsessed with day and night analysis and thinking. In the dead of night, the light was still on in Mendeleev's room on the left side of the main building of St. Petersburg University, and the servant pushed open the door of Mendeleev's study for safety.
"Anton!" Mendeleev stood up and said to the servant, "Go to the laboratory to find some thick paper and take the basket with you."
Anton is a loyal servant of Professor Mendeleev's family. He walked out of the door, shrugged inexplicably and quickly brought a thick roll of paper.
"Help me cut it open."
Mendeleev ordered his servant to start drawing grids on thick paper.
"All cards should be as big as this one. Start cutting, I want to write on it. "
Mendelia worked tirelessly. He wrote down the name of the element, the original quantity, the chemical formula and main properties of the compound on each card. The basket is gradually filled with cards. Mendeleev divided them into several categories and put them on a broad experimental platform.
In the following days, Mendeleev systematically arranged the element cards. Mendeleev's family was surprised to find that the professor who has always cherished time suddenly became keen on "playing cards". Mendeleev, like playing cards, put away the element cards every day, put them away and spread them out again, and played "cards" with a frown. ...
Winter goes and spring comes. Mendeleev did not find the inherent law in the chaotic element card. One day, he sat down at the table and fiddled with the "cards" again, shaking and shaking, and Mendeleev stood up like an electric shock.
Over the years, a completely unexpected phenomenon has appeared in front of him. The properties of each row of elements change gradually from top to bottom according to the increase of atomic weight.