Madame Marie Curie&

The Science of Radioactivity

By Claire Goelst

Early Life•Born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland•Given name was Marya Sklodowska, but her family and friends called her “Little Manya”

Early Life cont. •Her father was a professor of math and physics•Her mother was a pianist, singer, and teacher•Her mother died of tuberculosis when Marya was 11

Schooling•Graduated high school when she was 15• In 1891 she enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris as “Marie” and graduated in 1893

Pierre

• She married Pierre Curie in July 1895

Thesis Work•She decided that her thesis for her doctorate would be on Henri Becquerel’s mysterious “x-rays” that are given off by uranium

Work with Uranium

• Discovered that if you have a certain amount of uranium, then you get a certain amount of ray intensity, no matter what you did to the material

Uranium Continued

•Marie discovered that there was something going on inside the atom that created the rays, she named this effect “radioactivity”

•She discovered that the only known elements that were radioactive were uranium and thorium

Radioactivity

Polonium•Pierre stopped his work on crystals to work with Marie•Marie continued her work, but with a different substance, pitchblende

Polonium Cont.

•They called this new substance polonium in honor of Marie’s homeland

•In July 1898 they extracted a new element that was even more radioactive than uranium

Radium•In January of 1899 another new element was discovered that was over 1 million times more radioactive than uranium, it was named radium

Radium Continued

•In 1910 Marie isolated pure radium metal

•Her major studies showed that radium gave out light and heat, as well as being able to damage living flesh

Radium cont.•In order to obtain one decigram of pure radium chloride salt, Marie had to sift through hundreds of tons of pitchblende

Properties of Radium•Radium is

silver-white in color•Today it is used in small amounts as a cancer treatment and in fluorescent paint

Pierre’s Death

•Pierre Curie was killed tragically by a horse-drawn cart in 1906

Teaching•It was decided that Marie should take over Pierre’s teaching job at the Sorbonne in 1906 •This made

Marie the 1st woman professor at any French university

Paris Radium Institute•In 1907 Marie convinced the French government to fund a radium research institute, to be used mainly for medical research

Health Problems•Marie believed

that working with radium was not a danger to her health, however, doctors today have proven that she was very wrong

Health cont. •In 1911 Marie collapsed from depression and severe kidney problems that were a result of her long-time exposure to radium

Radium Institute cont.

•In August 1914 the Radium Institute was finished, and named after Marie’s deceased husband

World War II•Shortly after the institute was finished, Germany invaded France•Marie’s staff was cut short to two people, herself and her daughter Irene

World War II cont. •Immediately after the War broke out Marie donated all of her money to the War fund, and signed up to be a nurse

X-ray Mobiles

•Marie decided that there should be x-ray machines that the war doctors could use on the battle field for soldiers

X-ray mobiles cont.

•Marie created 20 mobile x-ray machines and over 200 stationary machines

Radon

•Marie also invented tiny glass tubes that were filled with radon ( a radioactive gas)

Radon cont.

•Doctors would insert the tubes in patients at spots where the radiation would destroy diseased tissue

After the War

•After the War ended in 1918 Marie spent a lot of time with her two daughters Irene and Eve

After the War cont.

•After two or three years with her daughters she resumed her work with radium at the Paris institute

Declining Health

•Marie had been working at the radium institute in good health for almost 12 years

•She began to notice burns on her hands and her failing eyesight somewhere around 1932

Late Life

•Marie’s blood had been weakened by her constant exposure to radium•This caused her to catch aplastic anemia

Late Life cont.

•Marie eventually contracted leukemia and died on July 14, 1934

Awards•Marie was awarded numerous small awards during her life such as having her picture placed on a stamp!

Awards cont.•Marie was

awarded the Nobel prize in physics in 1903 for her work with X-rays•She was also awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1911 for her work with radium

About Me!!!Hi!I’m Claire! I like food-all

kinds. And I like horses, chickens(yes a little odd I know), and talking!!!!!! I’m incredibly tall and I have red

hair!!!! I have two

sisters and one brother, they are all older than me. I especially like Chinese food and Mac n’ cheese.

Bibliography•“Marie Curie, Pierre Curie.” Scientists: The Lives

and Works of 150 Scientists.1996 ed.•Tames,Richard.Marie Curie.New York:Franklin

Watts Inc.,1989.•Stille,Darlene.Extraordinary Women Scientists.

Chicago:Children’s Press,1995.•Notable Women Scientists.Farmington Hills,MI:the Gale Group,1999.•Shriver,Duward. ”Radium.”World Book

Encyclopedia. 2003 ed.

Bibliography cont.

•Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity. 2000. American Institute of Physics.28 April ,2005<http://www.aip.org/history/curie/>

•Marie Sklodowska-Curie. 30 April,2005.Wikipedia. May 1, 2005. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Marie_Sklodowska_Curie>