What is Maria Skłodowska Curie famous for? Video: Pierre and Marie Curie

Date of death: Place of death: Scientific field: Alma mater: Known as:

Discovery of the elements radium and polonium, isolation of radium

Awards and prizes

Together with her husband, she discovered the elements radium (from Lat. radium- radiating) and polonium (from lat. polonium(Polonia - Latin for “Poland”) - a tribute to the homeland of Maria Skłodowska).

Biography and scientific achievements

Maria Skłodowska was born in Warsaw. Her childhood was overshadowed by the early loss of one of her sisters and, soon after, her mother. Even as a schoolgirl, she was distinguished by her extraordinary diligence and hard work. Maria strived to complete the work in the most thorough manner, without allowing any inaccuracies, often at the expense of sleep and regular nutrition. She studied so intensively that, after graduating from school, she was forced to take a break to improve her health.

Maria sought to continue her education, however, in the Russian Empire, which at that time included Poland, opportunities for women to obtain higher scientific education were limited. The Sklodowski sisters, Maria and Bronislava, agreed to take turns working as governesses for several years in order to receive an education one by one. Maria worked for several years as a teacher-governess while Bronislava studied at medical institute in Paris. Then Maria, at the age of 24, was able to go to the Sorbonne, in Paris, where she studied chemistry and physics while Bronislava earned money for her sister's education.

Maria Sklodowska became the first female teacher in the history of the Sorbonne. At the Sorbonne she met Pierre Curie, also a teacher, whom she later married. Together they began to study the anomalous rays (X-rays) that were emitted by uranium salts. Without any laboratory, and working in a barn on the Rue Laumont in Paris, from 1898 to 1902 they processed 8 tons of uranium ore and isolated one hundredth of a gram of a new substance - radium. Polonium was later discovered, an element named after Marie Curie's homeland. In 1903, Marie and Pierre Curie received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for outstanding services in joint research into the phenomena of radiation." While at the award ceremony, the couple think about creating their own laboratory and even an institute of radioactivity. Their idea was brought to life, but much later.

After tragic death husband Pierre Curie in 1906, Marie Skłodowska-Curie inherited his chair at the University of Paris.

In addition to two Nobel Prizes, Skłodowska-Curie was awarded:

• Berthelot medal of the French Academy of Sciences (1902),
• Davy Medal of the Royal Society of London (1903)
• Elliot Cresson Medal of the Franklin Institute (1909).

She was a member of 85 scientific societies around the world, including the French medical academy, received 20 honorary degrees. From 1911 until her death, Sklodowska-Curie took part in the prestigious Solvay Congresses on Physics, and for 12 years she was an employee of the International Commission for Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations.

Children

• Irene Joliot-Curie (-)- Nobel laureate in chemistry
• Eva Curie (-) - journalist, author of a book about her mother, was married to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Henry Richardson Labouisse, Jr.

Links

• Eve Curie. "Marie Curie"

Laureates

25.11.2014 0 3825

The name of this amazing woman will forever remain in history; she made great discoveries in the field of chemistry and physics. She was the first lady to win a Nobel Prize, and even a two-time winner. At the same time, she did not become a scientific biscuit or a bluestocking; she was lucky enough to love, to be loved, to find out what it is family happiness, and raise two beautiful daughters.

In November 1867 in Warsaw in large family Sklodovsky's daughter Maria was born. The girl grew up in a family where science was god. Maria's father, a graduate of St. Petersburg University, taught mathematics and physics at the gymnasium, and her mother was the director of a girls' boarding school, where girls from the best families studied.

Of course, she was also involved in raising her five children. Everything was going well until fate became angry with the family: her mother died of consumption when Maria was only 11 years old. Soon the father invested all the family's savings in some dubious enterprise and lost his job and apartment.

Trouble after trouble... But Maria remained one of the best students in the gymnasium and graduated with a gold medal. However, to enter higher education educational institution It was impossible for a woman in Poland, and there was no money for training. And I wanted to study so much! And she got a job as a laboratory assistant in a chemical laboratory that belonged to her cousin, where D.I. Mendeleev noticed the girl’s abilities and predicted a great future for her. Oh, how she wanted to go to the Sorbonne, but the family’s affairs were very deplorable.

And then she and her sister came up with a plan: Maria would work as a governess and pay for her sister’s education at a medical institute, and then Bronya would bear the costs of higher education sisters. And two brave suffragettes achieved everything! Bronya became a doctor, got married and took Maria with her to Paris, so in 1891 her dream came true - Maria entered the Sorbonne at the Faculty of Natural Sciences.

Meeting with destiny

In 1893, she already had a degree in physics, so when she met Pierre Curie, head of the laboratory at Municipal school industrial physics and chemistry, struck him to the core.

Pierre always considered women charming, but stupid, and here in front of him was a potential girlfriend and ally!

And he immediately proposed to Sklodowska. Let's not pretend: Maria's decision was influenced by the fact that the groom had just defended his doctoral dissertation in magnetic properties substances - the topic is more than interesting for her! The newlyweds spent much more time in the laboratory than in the bedroom, but still, in 1897, their daughter Irene was born. Raising the baby slightly distracted the young mother from studying the radiation of uranium compounds.

And yet radioactivity attracted Maria much more than the kitchen and the nursery. In December 1898, the Curies announced the discovery of two new elements: radium and polonium (named after Poland). True, in order to provide evidence of their existence, it was necessary to isolate them from ore, which was very difficult, but if you don’t leave the workshop for four years, if you don’t think about the harm to your own health and forget even about small child, success will come sooner or later! But not necessarily in the form of money. Due to lack of money, the Curies were forced to work as teachers in high school. And thanks to Pierre's father - he helped raise little Irene.

In 1903, Maria presented her dissertation “Research on radioactive substances", which was recognized " greatest contribution in science ever contributed by a doctoral dissertation.” Maria was triumphantly awarded an academic degree. Finally, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics to the Curies, and Marie became the first woman in the world to receive this high award.

And again Nobel Prize

In the process of researching radium, the Curie spouses noted its effect on the human body, however, they did not know how dangerous this effect was. But they immediately guessed the properties of radioactive substances to treat cancer. AND world science immediately recognized this discovery, but the strange Curie couple did not obtain a patent, stating that they were categorically against deriving commercial benefits from the results of their research.

And yet financial situation family improved thanks to the Nobel Prize. In addition, Pierre received a position as a professor of physics at the Sorbonne, and Maria headed a scientific laboratory there.

So by the birth of the second daughter, Eva, who later became a famous pianist and biographer of her mother, the family lived quite happily. “I found in marriage everything I could have dreamed of at the time of our union, and even more,” said Maria. But in April 1906, the idyll collapsed: Pierre died under the wheels of a freight cart. And Maria’s world changed forever - she became withdrawn, lost interest in everything except work.

It’s good that she was offered the department at the Sorbonne, previously headed by Pierre. This helped me survive. And she became the first again: this time the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne. At the same time, she continued to study radioactive elements, making discovery after discovery... But when in 1910 she was nominated for election to the French Academy of Sciences, she was rejected during the vote under the insulting pretext: “Because she is a woman.”

True, after some time, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences again awarded Marie Sklodowska-Curie the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the elements radium and polonium. And this award “for the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this wonderful element” compensated for the humiliation from the academicians. At the commission meeting it was noted that her research contributed to the birth new science- radiology.

“There is nothing in life to be afraid of”

Before the outbreak of World War I, the Radium Institute was formed, in which Marie Curie headed the Department basic research And medical use radioactivity. She helped create radiological installations, supply points medical care X-ray machines. In 1920, her monograph “Radiology and War” was published, and then a biography of Pierre...

Maria worked actively, traveled with lectures around the world... But many years of work with dangerous elements did not pass without a trace: in July 1934, Marie Curie died of leukemia. Her dedication to science is legendary, and her hard work and self-denial serve as an example to modern scientists. Modesty and aversion to acquisitiveness today can only cause bewilderment and condescending smiles.

Is this possible in our age of consumer triumph?! The Lord gave her so much: talent, an inquisitive mind, success, love and motherhood... Probably as a reward for her courage. After all, her words “There is nothing in life to be afraid of, there is only what needs to be understood” became the motto for scientific researchers around the world.

Marie Sklodowska-Curie (born November 7, 1867 - died July 4, 1934) - French (Polish) experimental scientist, physicist and chemist, one of the creators of the doctrine of radioactivity. The first woman to win the Nobel Prize, the first person to win the Nobel Prize twice and the only person, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in two different sciences - physics and chemistry. Together with her husband Pierre, Curie discovered the elements radium and polonium. Founder of the Curie Institutes in Paris and Warsaw.

Not a single woman in the world was able to achieve such popularity in the field of science as Marie Curie achieved during her lifetime. Meanwhile, when you look at the details of her biography, you get the impression that this scientist did not have sharp surges and dips, setbacks and sudden rises, which usually accompany genius. It seems that her success in physics is only the result of titanic work and rare, almost incredible luck. It seems that the slightest accident, a zigzag of fate - and the great name of Marie Curie would not exist in science. But perhaps it just seems so.

Childhood

And her life began in Warsaw, in the modest family of the teacher Joseph Sklodovsky, where, in addition to the youngest Mania, two more daughters and a son were growing up. Life was very difficult, the mother was dying for a long time and painfully from tuberculosis, the father was exhausted to treat his sick wife and feed his five children. He may not have been very lucky; he did not stay in profitable places for long. He himself explained this by saying that he did not know how to get along with the Russian authorities of the gymnasiums. In fact, the spirit of nationalism dominated the family, and much was said about the oppression of the Poles. The children grew up under the strong influence of patriotic ideas, and Maria remained with a complex of an undeservedly humiliated nation for the rest of her life.

Due to lack of income, the Skłodowskis gave part of the house to boarders - children from nearby villages who studied in Warsaw - so the rooms were constantly noisy and restless. Early in the morning, Manya was lifted from the sofa, because the dining room in which she slept was needed for the boarders' breakfast. When the girl was 11 years old, her mother and older sister. However, the father, who had withdrawn into himself and suddenly aged dramatically, did everything to ensure that the children fully enjoyed life. One after another they graduated from high school and all with gold medals. Manya was no exception, showing excellent knowledge in all subjects. As if sensing that his daughter would face serious trials in the future, the father sent the girl to the village to live with relatives for a whole year. Perhaps this was her only vacation in her life, the most carefree time. “I can’t believe that there is some kind of geometry and algebra,” she wrote to a friend, “I have completely forgotten them.”

Pierre and Marie Curie

Education

In Paris, Maria, who was already 24 years old, entered the Sorbonne, and a life full of hardships began. She plunged headlong into her studies and abandoned all entertainment - only lectures and libraries. There was a catastrophic lack of funds even for the most basic necessities. The room where she lived had no heating, no lighting, no water. Maria herself carried bundles of firewood and buckets of water to the sixth floor. She gave up hot food a long time ago, since she didn’t know how to cook herself, and didn’t want to, and she didn’t have money for restaurants. One day, when my sister’s husband came to see Maria, she fainted from exhaustion. I had to feed my relative somehow. But in a few months the girl was able to overcome the most difficult material at a prestigious French university. This is incredible, because over the years of vegetating in the village, despite persistent studies, she has fallen very far behind - self-education is self-education.

Maria became one of the best students at the university and received two diplomas - physics and mathematics. However, it cannot be said that in four years she was able to do anything significant in science or that any of the teachers later recalled her as a student who showed outstanding abilities. She was just a conscientious, diligent student.

Meet Pierre Curie

In the spring of 1894, perhaps the most significant event in her life happened. She met Pierre Curie. By the age of twenty-seven, Maria hardly had any illusions about her personal life. This unexpectedly coming love seems even more wonderful. Pierre had turned 35 by that time; he had long been waiting for a woman who could understand his scientific aspirations. Among people of genius, where ambitions are so strong, where relationships are burdened by the complexities of creative natures, the case of Pierre and Maria, who created a surprisingly harmonious couple, is rare and has no analogues. Our heroine pulled out a lucky ticket.

Marie Curie with her daughters Eva and Irene in 1908

New direction - radiation

Marie Curie began writing her doctoral dissertation. After watching latest articles, she becomes interested in the discovery of Becquerel's uranium radiations. The topic is completely new, unexplored. After consulting with her husband, Maria decided to take on this work. She pulls out a lucky ticket for the second time, not yet knowing that she has found herself at the very peak of scientific interests of the 20th century. Then Maria could hardly have imagined that she was entering the nuclear era, that she would become a guide for humanity in this new complex world.

Scientific work

The work began rather prosaically. The woman methodically studied samples containing uranium and thorium and noticed deviations from the expected results. This is where Maria’s genius manifested itself; she expressed a daring hypothesis: these minerals contain a new, hitherto unknown radioactive substance. Soon Pierre also became involved in her work. It was necessary to highlight this unknown chemical element, define it atomic weight to show the whole world the correctness of their assumptions.

For four years, the Curies lived as recluses; they rented a dilapidated barn, in which it was very cold in winter and hot in summer, with streams of rain pouring through the cracks in the roof. For 4 years they isolated radium from ore at their own expense, without any help. Maria took on the role of laborer. While her husband was busy setting up delicate experiments, she poured liquids from one vessel to another and stirred the boiling material in a cast-iron basin for several hours in a row. During these years, she became a mother and took on all the household chores, since Pierre was the only breadwinner in the family and was torn between experiments and lectures at the university.

The work progressed slowly, and when the main part of it was completed, all that remained was to do precise measurements on the latest devices, but they were not there - Pierre gave up. He began to persuade Maria to suspend the experiments, to wait for better times, when the necessary instruments would be at their disposal. But the wife did not agree and, having made incredible efforts, in 1902 she allocated a decigram of radium, a white shiny powder, which she subsequently did not part with all her life and bequeathed it to the Radium Institute in Paris.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Museum in Warsaw

Glory. First Nobel Prize

Fame came quickly. At the beginning of the 20th century, radium seemed to naive humanity to be a panacea for cancer. From different ends globe The Curies began to receive tempting offers: the French Academy of Sciences issued a loan for the isolation of radioactive substances, and they began to build the first factories for the industrial production of radium. Now their house was full of guests, correspondents fashion magazines strove to interview Madame Curie. And the pinnacle of scientific glory is the Nobel Prize! They are rich and are able to afford to maintain their own laboratories, recruit employees and buy the latest instruments, despite the fact that the Curies refused to obtain a patent for the production of radium, giving their discovery to the world selflessly.

Death of husband

And so, when life seemed well-ordered, fulfilling, comfortably containing both personal life, cute little daughters, and beloved work, everything collapsed in one piece. How fragile is earthly happiness.

1906, April 19 - Pierre, as always, went to work in the morning. And he never returned... He died in a terribly absurd way, under the wheels of a horse-drawn carriage. Fate, which miraculously gave Mary her beloved, seemed to be greedy and took him back.

How she was able to survive this tragedy is difficult to imagine. It is impossible to read the lines of the diary written in the first days after the funeral without emotion. “... Pierre, my Pierre, you are lying there like a poor wounded man, with your head bandaged, lost in sleep... We put you in the coffin on Saturday morning, and I supported your head when they carried you. We kissed your cold face with our last kiss. I put in your coffin several periwinkles from our garden and a small portrait of the one whom you called “sweet, intelligent student” and loved so much... The coffin is boarded up, and I don’t see you. I don't allow him to be covered with a terrible black rag. I cover it with flowers and sit down next to... Pierre sleeps in the ground last dream, this is the end of everything, everything, everything..."

Lecture at the Sorbonne

But this was not the end, Maria had another 28 years of life ahead. She was saved by her work and strong character. A few months after Pierre's death, she gave her first lecture at the Sorbonne. Much more people gathered than the small auditorium could accommodate. According to the rules, the course of lectures was supposed to begin with words of gratitude to the predecessor. Maria appeared at the department to a storm of applause, dryly nodded her head in greeting and, looking ahead, began in an even voice: “When you stand face to face with the successes achieved by physics...” This was the phrase with which I ended my course last semester Pierre. Tears rolled down the cheeks of the audience, and Maria monotonously continued her lecture.

Nobel laureates

1911 - Marie Curie became a two-time Nobel Prize laureate, and a few years later her daughter Irene received the same award.

During World War I, Maria created the first mobile X-ray units for field hospitals. Her energy knew no bounds, she carried out enormous scientific and social work, she was a welcome guest at many royal receptions, and people wanted to get to know her like a movie star. But one day she will say to one of her immoderate admirers: “There is no need to lead such an unnatural life as I led. I devoted a lot of time to science because I had a passion for it, because I loved scientific research... All I wish for women and young girls is simple family life and the work that interests them.”

Death

Marie Curie became the first person in the world to die from radiation. Years of working with radium had taken their toll. Once upon a time, she shyly hid her burnt, mangled hands, not fully understanding the extent to which her and Pierre’s brainchild was dangerous. Madame Curie died on July 4 from pernicious anemia, due to bone marrow degeneration from prolonged exposure to radiation.

On July 25, 1895, the wedding of Pierre and Marie Curie took place. There was no wedding or white dress, no banquet. Instead of rings, they bought bicycles. Such was the union of scientists with whom nuclear physics began.

He was born in 1859 in Paris in the family of a doctor. She is eight years later in Warsaw, in a teacher’s family. Both inherited a passion for science from their fathers. They dreamed of becoming scientists, but never did - they had to feed their families.

Pierre and Maria grew up in different countries ah, but in a very similar atmosphere. Despite extremely modest incomes, no expense was spared at home good books and academic journals, enthusiastically discussed the latest scientific discoveries. The children enjoyed spending time in their father's libraries.

When Pierre and Maria met, it is not surprising that they immediately felt that kinship of souls, which they talk about a lot, but which few people are given the opportunity to feel in life.

Pierre Curie: a young nugget

The future Nobel laureate Pierre Curie considered himself a “heavy thinker,” although he always remained a dreamer. As a child, he enjoyed walking, observing nature, and reading books. But sitting in boring lessons and cramming paragraphs from textbooks seemed unbearable. His parents met him halfway and completely adjusted home schooling to suit his inclinations.

At the age of 16, Pierre Curie became a bachelor of natural sciences, and two years later - a licentiate in physics. Before the introduction of the Bologna system, this was the next academic degree after the bachelor, with the right to teach.

After graduating from university, Pierre Curie and his brother Jacques began studying the properties of crystals in one of the laboratories of the Sorbonne. The brothers' collaboration lasted several years and led to a fundamental physical discovery: an explanation of the piezoelectric effect. In 1883, their paths diverged - Jacques went to work at the University of Montpellier and delved into mineralogy.

At the same time, Pierre continued to study the symmetry of crystals and determined a number of universal principles of their structure, after which he formulated the “Curie law” about the magnetic field of paramagnetic materials.

By the age of just over 30, Pierre’s scientific achievements had turned him into a world-famous scientist; he was appreciated by his colleagues abroad, but in France he worked in a modest position - he led practical classes at the Institute of Physics. He did not have his own laboratory; he carried out research whenever possible. Pierre did not know how to demand support at all and did not consider it necessary. He even bothered getting his doctorate only at the age of 35, although he could have used more than one of his studies for this long ago.

Maria Sklodowska: confidence and drive

Mane - yes youngest daughter Vladislav Sklodovsky was called at home - he was 10 years old when her mother died. The father never remarried and devoted his life to his children. He was the director of a gymnasium for boys, spoke six languages, translated foreign poetry into his native Polish for pleasure, and enthusiastically followed the latest advances in science. Maria took after her father: she read a lot and was interested in natural sciences.

Only son Wladyslaw Sklodowski easily passed the exams and became a student, but girls were not accepted into Polish universities at the end of the 19th century. Not only Maria dreamed of studying, but also her older sister Bronislava - she wanted to become a doctor.

Girls could study at the advanced Sorbonne. But the Sklodovsky family could not afford housing in France.

Maria offered her sister a deal: first, Bronya, as the eldest, would go to the Sorbonne, and Manya would work as a governess in rich houses for several years, earning money for her sister’s studies, helping her father and saving a little for herself. And then Bronya will help Mana. So in the fall of 1891, 24-year-old Maria - from then on she called herself Marie in the French manner - ended up in Paris, at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the Sorbonne. She was always in the front row at physics lectures.

Classmates

Together with Maria Skłodowska, 210 first-year girls began studying at the Sorbonne in 1891. In total, 9 thousand students studied at the university. Most of the girls aspired to the Faculty of Medicine; at the Faculty of Natural Sciences there were only 23 of them. Only two students reached the finals. At the physics department, Maria became the best in her class, at the mathematics department - second, and this fact, of course, greatly upset her.

Why physics? Skłodowska later recalled that while working as a governess, she still read a lot and chose books from a wide variety of different areas: sociology and mathematics, physics and anatomy, fiction and poetry. So she tried to understand what captivates her most.

At first, Marie had a difficult time at the Sorbonne. It turned out that her French was not as good as she thought, and her level home preparation does not reach the knowledge of classmates who graduated from the best Parisian lyceums. Therefore, no cheerful student parties, only intense studies from morning to night, until you faint with hunger. Thanks to her perseverance, Sklodovskaya received two diplomas at once - in physics and mathematics, within a few months of each other.

Meeting and friendship

By the time he met Maria Sklodowska, Pierre Curie was 35 years old. He led the life of a “scientific monk,” knowing full well that he only needed a special companion nearby, which probably never existed.

Judging by his early letters, before meeting Maria, Pierre was afraid of women. “A woman loves life for life’s sake much more than we do; mentally gifted women are rare,” reasoned the young scientist. - Therefore, if we, carried away by some mystical love, want to take a new, unusual path and give all our thoughts to a certain creative work, which alienates us from the surrounding humanity, then we have to fight against women.”

Probably fate decided to teach Pierre a lesson and at the same time reward him. After all, not everyone is destined to meet a woman who sincerely shares your interests (and with whom - lo and behold! - you don’t have to fight).

By the time she met the famous physicist, Maria had also managed to adjust to the ascetic life of a loner. But personal drama contributed to this - she was rejected due to her low origin.

While Maria worked as a governess in Poland, she fell in love with the owners' son. Things were heading towards the wedding, but he never dared to upset his parents with a misalliance.

Pierre and Maria met in Paris, in the house of their mutual friend, Polish professor of physics Kowalski.

“I was struck by the expression of his clear eyes and the barely noticeable ease in the posture of his tall figure. His slow, deliberate speech, his simplicity, serious and at the same time youthful smile had complete trust,” Maria recalled many years later her first impression of Pierre. - A conversation began between us, which quickly turned into a friendly conversation. He dealt with scientific issues on which I was very pleased to know his opinion, as well as social or humanitarian issues that were of great interest to both of us. There was a remarkable similarity between his way of thinking and mine, despite the fact that we came from different countries.”

First a friendship began. Even the first gift from Pierre to Marie was completely devoid of romanticism: he sent her his new article"On symmetry in physical phenomena."

It turned out good sign: symmetry is a sign of harmony, and there are few examples in history of such harmonious unions of two idealistic geniuses as the union of Pierre and Marie Curie became.

Love and physics

With friendship came love. A significant role was played by the fact that Maria felt at home surrounded by Pierre’s relatives, and Pierre completely charmed the entire Sklodovsky family. He was even ready to move to Poland for Maria if she did not want to stay in Paris, and began to learn Polish.

On July 25, 1895, the wedding took place. There was no wedding, no white dress, no formal banquet. Only a modest ceremony among those closest to you. Instead of rings, they spent money on two brand new bicycles for honeymoon in the suburbs of Paris.

For Pierre's sake, Maria made a voluntary sacrifice: still completely unadapted to everyday life, she learned to cook and run a household. The couple could not afford servants.

Mary's Day went like this. Eight hours on scientific research in the laboratory with Pierre and teaching at the gymnasium, three hours for homework, in the evening - reading and own notes. When daughter Irene was born, worries increased, although Pierre's father, who had been widowed shortly before the birth of his granddaughter, volunteered to help.

Radiation

In 1897, Maria became interested in a phenomenon discovered by physicist Henri Becquerel: if a uranium compound is placed on a photographic plate wrapped in black paper, then an imprint will remain on it as if from direct light. It's all about the rays of uranium passing through the paper.

The nature of this radiation interested Maria. She quickly discovered that thorium compounds emit the same radiation. The results surprised Pierre so much that he joined his wife’s experiments, leaving his favorite crystals and symmetry - temporarily, as he thought then. Thus began work on the study of radioactivity, which culminated in the discovery of polonium and radium, and many years later turned humanity into the only biological species, which is capable of destroying all life on Earth.

In 1903, the Curies shared the Nobel Prize with Henri Becquerel for outstanding achievements in radiation research.

Pierre and Marie continued to conduct their research as novice enthusiasts: in free time, without any sources of funding. It’s scary to read in Maria’s memoirs about their work with uranium ore in the laboratory barn: “I had to process up to 20 kilograms of primary material at a time, and as a result I filled the barn with large vessels with chemical sediments and liquids. Our precious materials, for which we had no storage, were laid out on tables and boards; their faintly luminous points were visible from all sides, seeming to hang in the darkness; they always gave us new excitement and admiration.”

Scientists have not yet guessed mortal danger radioactivity. Pierre never found out about her. Even when they began to suffer from frequent ailments, the couple did not associate them with work. More precisely, they connected, but in a different sense: they thought it was just fatigue - it was time to rest, but there was absolutely no time. Science doesn't wait.

In October 1904, Pierre became a professor of physics at the Sorbonne, and a year later - an academician of the French Academy of Sciences. A department was created especially for him at the University of Paris. general physics and radioactivity. And Doctor of Physics and Nobel Prize laureate Marie Curie took the modest position of head of her husband’s laboratory, but she was happy about it too. All previous years she worked with him without any position or salary. At the end of the same 1904, the Curie couple had a second daughter, Eva.

Scientific fame hardly changed the couple’s lifestyle: they avoided invitations to receptions and banquets, but enjoyed going to theaters, concerts and art exhibitions.

Even evening dress practical Maria, as her daughter later recalled, wore the same thing for years - she just gave it to the dressmakers from time to time for alterations.

When money became available, the Curies preferred to spend it on their favorite laboratory. She still existed without state support, but there were philanthropists who began to finance research.

The Curies could have patented their method of extracting pure radium and become millionaires, but they deliberately abandoned this for the benefit of science and medicine, so that other scientists could freely use their discoveries. Back in 1901, the Curies suggested the possibility of using radiation to treat cancer.

The end of symmetry

But the amazing symmetry of this unique pair fell apart. “We, Madame Curie and I, are working on the precise dosage of radium by the emanation it gives off,” wrote Pierre Curie on April 14, 1906. “It seems like nothing, but it’s been several months since we started this business, and we’re just starting to achieve the right results.” Five days after this recording, Pierre, while crossing the road, fell under the wheels of a cart. Ridiculous instant death. He did not live a month before his 47th birthday.

Describing that terrible day and funeral in her diary, Maria ended the story with the phrase: “This is the end of everything, everything, everything.”

A few days later, Maria finally found the strength to go to the laboratory: “I tried to make measurements for the curve that you and I marked with separate points. But I felt unable to continue working. I walk down the street as if in hypnosis, without any thoughts. I will not commit suicide, I am not even tempted to do so. But among all these crews, isn’t there one that will give me the opportunity to share the fate of my beloved?”

Her diary will turn into letters to Pierre for several years. Salvation will come through work after all. To continue the business started with her husband - this was the only way to stay together with Pierre, despite death.

Colleagues invited Maria to take her husband’s chair at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics. She was the only one who could truly replace him. But even despite Maria’s indisputable scientific merits, this decision was truly revolutionary: for the first time in the history of the Sorbonne, a woman became a professor. What did this mean then for Mary herself?

“I would like to tell you that the alpine broom has blossomed and wisteria, irises, hawthorn are beginning to bloom - you would love all this,” Maria wrote in her diary then, addressing Pierre. “I also want to say that I was appointed to your department and that there were fools who congratulated me.”

Maria lived without Pierre for 28 years, wrote a book of memories about him and continued scientific work on the study of radioactivity. In 1909, the Radium Institute opened, and Marie Skłodowska-Curie became director of the department of fundamental research and medical applications of radioactivity.

In 1911, Marie Curie received her second Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry. In her solemn speech at the award ceremony, she, of course, remembered Pierre.

Sklodowska-Curie will never marry again. The words in her diary, “We were created to live together,” will forever remain dedicated only to Pierre.

Marie Curie with her daughter Irene in the laboratory

During the First World War, Marie Curie set about equipping - again, without any government support - front-line hospitals with X-ray machines to look for shrapnel in the bodies of the wounded. She personally worked at these installations, training doctors.

Until recently, already fading from radiation sickness, she was finishing a book on radioactivity. Even the offered cup of tea seemed like a laboratory solution to her in agony. “Is it made from radium or mesothorium?” - she asked.

Eldest daughter Pierre and Marie, Irène Joliot-Curie, will also devote her life to the study of radiation together with her husband, nuclear physicist Frederic Joliot, and will receive working together with him the Nobel Prize, like her parents once did. What is not another manifestation of symmetry, which so fascinated Pierre Curie? Like her mother, Irene died of radiation sickness. For her this was not a feat. Just a tribute to science.

(1867 - 1934)

Polish and French physicist and chemist Maria Skłodowska-Curie was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw into a family of gymnasium teachers. She was the youngest among five children. Maria was raised in a family where education and science were in first place. Her mother and father were teachers. Curie was first in high school. Her father’s friend D.I. Mendeleev, seeing the girl at work in the laboratory, prophesied a great future for her.

Maria continued her education at the University of Paris, and after graduating, she received two diplomas - in physics and mathematics.

In 1895 she married the French physicist Pierre Curie and the same year she constantly worked in his laboratory at the School of Physics and Chemistry in France.

In 1900 she began teaching at the Seversk School, and already in 1903 she prepared and defended her doctoral dissertation at the University of Paris. In 1906, she was awarded the title of professor with an appointment to the position of head of the department of this university, and in 1914 M. Sklodowska-Curie was invited to the Radium Institute in the status of director.

Her main works are devoted to radioactivity and its practical application. Currently, she is already researching the radioactivity of uranium salts and concludes that radioactivity is a property of uranium.

Independently of the physicist G. Schmidt, M. Sklodowska-Curie proved the presence of radioactivity in thorium. She also proved that the radioactivity of most minerals that contain uranium and thorium is much more intense than others. She made the assumption that the minerals (uranium resin ore, chalcolite and autonite) contain a new radioactive element, which differs significantly from uranium and thorium. The search for this radioactive element, together with her husband P. Curie, was extended in uranium tar. Using the active substance enrichment method they developed, they experimentally prove that two new radioactive elements are present in uranium tar.

After common painstaking and intense work on processing uranium tar, both scientists in 1898 discovered one of these elements - polonium, and then the second - radium, and already in 1899 - reduced radioactivity.

1902 M. Sklodowska-Curie obtained pure radium salt, and in 1910, together with the French chemist A. Debierne, metallic radium. Determined for the first time atomic mass radium and its place in periodic table Mendeleev.

For research into the phenomenon of radioactivity in 1903, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Nobel Prize in Physics to the Curie spouses (together with A. Becquerel), and in 1911 to M. Sklodowska-Curie for obtaining radium in the metallic state, awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The Curie family determined the effect of radium on the human body (they suffered burns) and suggested that radium could be used to treat tumors.

On July 4, 1934, M. Skłodowska-Curie died of leukemia in a small hospital in the town of Sanselmo in the French Alps.