Marie Curie, born Maria Skłodowska, was a Polish chemist and physicist (later naturalized French) who pioneered the study of natural radioactivity. Her work expanded our understanding of nuclear physics, and she became the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes. She worked in a male-dominated world and earned the admiration and respect of all her colleagues.
Natural radioactivity has existed in the universe since its origin. It is present on Earth and even in living beings. The radiation emitted by bodies is invisible, but its interaction with other materials can be measured with great sensitivity and precision. Radioactivity arises because the atoms that constitute matter are generally stable, but some transform spontaneously, losing parts and emitting radiation that carries energy. The discovery of natural radioactivity was a true revolution in scientific thought, altering our model of the universe and inaugurating an entirely new branch of physics. Marie Curie was one of the architects of this revolution.
A Life Dedicated to Science
Marie Skłodowska was born on November 7 in Warsaw, the fifth child of a physics and mathematics teacher, Władysław Skłodowski, and a teacher, pianist, and singer, Bronisława Boguska. At that time, Poland was occupied by Russia, which had imposed its language and customs by force. Amid this climate, Marie attended clandestine classes where Polish culture was taught. She always had a passion for reading, especially natural history and physics, and it is known that by the age of four she read perfectly. She was an excellent student in school, mastering Russian, Polish, German, and French, and graduated at 15. She later moved to France and enrolled in the Faculty of Mathematical and Natural Sciences at the Sorbonne.
In 1893 she became a licentiate in physics with the highest marks in her class, and the following year she earned a licentiate in mathematics, ranking second. That year she met Pierre Curie, a physics professor, and they began working together. They married in a simple ceremony. Her marriage did not diminish her passion for science, and she set herself the challenge of obtaining a doctorate. Until then, only one woman had achieved a doctorate: the German Elsa Neumann. Marie began analyzing the work of physicist Henri Becquerel, who had discovered that uranium salts emitted rays of unknown nature. Becquerel's work was related to the recent discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Röntgen. Marie then decided to investigate the nature of the radiation produced by uranium salts. Finally, in June 1903 she published her doctoral thesis (“Investigaciones sobre las sustancias radiactivas”) and obtained the doctorate cum laude.
The Discovery of Polonium and Radium
Marie and Pierre devoted themselves almost exclusively to the study of materials considered radioactive. Their favorite was uranium in the form of pitchblende, a material with the curious property of being more radioactive than uranium itself. The logical explanation was that pitchblende contained traces of some element much more radioactive than uranium, and the Curies designed several experiments to find it. After years of work, they isolated two new chemical elements. The first was named polonium in reference to Marie's country of birth, as a way to draw attention to its political situation. The other was named radium, due to its intense radioactivity. The Curies' laboratory was located in a shed, with Pierre supplying materials and gadgets while Marie worked there. Both were unaware of the dangerous effects of radiation and suffered burns and sores almost constantly. To give an idea of the work done in the shed, it is worth noting that Marie obtained a gram of radium chloride from the manipulation of eight tons of pitchblende.
Two Nobel Prizes
Their contributions to science earned them two Nobel Prizes. In fact, she was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize and also the first to win it twice, in two different fields. The first award was the Nobel Prize in Physics, in 1903, shared with Henri Becquerel and her husband Pierre Curie, “in recognition of the extraordinary services rendered in their joint research on the radiation phenomena discovered by Henri Becquerel”. In 1911 she received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element”. With a laudable selfless attitude, she never agreed to patent the process of isolating radium, leaving it open to research by the entire scientific community.
Tragedy and Legacy
On the morning of April 19, 1906, Pierre Curie died in a traffic accident, run over by a horse-drawn carriage on a Paris street while heading to his laboratory. Marie obtained the chair of physics at the Sorbonne that had been granted to Pierre in 1904, and on November 15, 1906, she became the first woman to teach at a university. Such was the expectation that a large number of people attended, many not even students. Marie dazzled everyone, speaking about radioactivity.
Her research in the field of radioactivity caused irreversible damage to her health, and she eventually died of leukemia on July 4, 1934. Marie Curie is considered by the scientific community as one of the greatest intellects of all time. As a tribute, the unit of radioactivity was named the “curie”, although later that designation was replaced by “becquerel”. She was an example for women who fought for recognition and independence.
