The discovery of radioactivity Marie and Pierre Curie The discovery of radioactivity

Marie Curie Before her husband was run over by a horse drawn carriage in the streets of Paris, Marie Curie worked with Pierre as her husband and lab partner. She was a French and Polish Physicist and Chemist. She was born in November 7, 1867 in Poland. 28 years later, she married Pierre Curie on July 26, 1895. Marie worked with Henri Becquerel on the discovery of radioactivity. Henri was the scientist to first discover/observe radioactivity from Uranium. Marie was the first and only woman so far to receive two Noble Peace Prizes. One in chemistry (which she got for herself) and one in radioactivity, (which she shared with Pierre and Henri.)

Pierre Curie Pierre Curie was born in Paris May 15, 1859 and was taught in mathematics by his father, Eugene. When he was 16, he earned his mathematics degree. By the age of 18 he had completed the higher degree but did not quickly go on to get his doctorate because of the lack of money. Instead, he worked as a lab professor with his wife, Marie as his assistant. Pierre worked hard and became a physicist and chemist.

Henri Becquerel and the Curies Henri had first observed radioactivity from experimenting on Uranium. Marie had taken interest in his discovery and decided to extend on his discovery with Pierre. The Curies had used an electrometer that Pierre and his brother, Jacques had built. They used much of their career studying radioactivity (a term that Marie came up with), observing the particles and energy given off as radioactive atoms decomposed/decayed. They found that the hefty element thorium was radioactive and discovered two new elements: radium and polonium with polonium being named after her home town, Poland.

Contribution to the Atomic Theory Both the Curies and Becquerel had discovered that radioactivity was a property of an atom and that these radioactive atoms are able to decay into new elements until they are completely decomposed. This was a big deal and other scientists welcomed it in excitedly. Not only did she help discover radioactivity, but she also helped cancer treatment progress by using it in a new way too. She obtained polonium and radium from pitchblende, a form of mineral that contains uranium, after noticing that the untouched pitchblende was more radioactive than the uranium that was parted from it. They had refined the approaches for removing radium from ores!

Epilogue Throughout their studies, Marie and Pierre had two daughters named Irene and Eve. They took care of Marie until she later died July 4, 1934 at the age of 66 from Aplastic Anemia brought on by over exposure to radiation. "Have no fear of perfection; you'll never reach it.“ -Marie Curie