Marie Curie - Questions and Answers Marie Curie The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1911 Marie Curie Marie Curie - Questions and Answers Question: When was Marie Curie born? Answer: Marie Curie was born on 7 November 1867. Question: When did she die? Answer: Marie Curie died on 4 July 1934, in Savoy, France. She died of aplastic anaemia, a blood disease that often results from exposure to large amounts of radiation. Question: Where was she born? Answer: She was born in Warsaw, now the capital of Poland, but at that time the city belonged to the Russian Empire. Question: What was her maiden name? Answer: Her maiden name was Maria Sklodowska. She was also called 'Manya' by her family and friends. She later changed her name to 'Marie' when she moved to Paris, France in later years. Question: What was her family background? Answer: Marie had four brothers and sisters. Both her parents were teachers. Her father was a patriot whose views about an independent Poland often made it difficult for him to keep his job.

When Marie was 11 years old, her oldest sister died of typhus and her mother of tuberculosis. Question: What was her educational background? Answer: Marie finished high school at 15, with the highest honours. She worked as a private tutor for children in Poland before moving to Paris, France at the age of 24 to study mathematics and physics at the Sorbonne. Her goal was to get a teacher's diploma and return to Poland. Question: Why did she not return to Poland? Answer: Marie stayed in France after she met a French scientist, Pierre Curie, in the spring of 1894. Pierre was the head of a laboratory at the School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry. She later married Pierre and they had two daughters, Irène , born in 1897, and Eve, born in 1904. Marie and Pierre worked together in the laboratory, which later resulted in a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903, making Marie Curie the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize. Question: What was the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded for?

Answer: Henri Becquerel was awarded half of the prize for his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity. Marie and Pierre Curie were awarded half the prize for their research on the radiation phenomena discovered by Becquerel. Question: What did Marie Curie discover? Answer: Marie Curie studied the radiation of all compounds containing the known radioactive elements, including uranium and thorium, which she later discovered was also radioactive. She also found out that: - you can exactly measure the strength of the radiation from uranium; - the intensity of the radiation is proportional to the amount of uranium or thorium in the compound - no matter what compound it is; - the ability to emit radiation does not depend on the arrangement of the atoms in a molecule; it must be linked to the interior of the atom itself - a revolutionary discovery! When she realized that some uranium and/or thorium compounds had stronger radiation than uranium, she made the following hypothesis: there must be an unknown element in the compound which had a stronger radiation than uranium or thorium. Her work aroused the interest of her husband, Pierre Curie, who stopped his own research on crystals and joined the "detective work" with his wife.

And Marie was proven right: in 1898 the Curies discovered two new radioactive elements: radium (named after the Latin word for ray) and polonium (named after Marie's home country, Poland). Question: Was she awarded another Nobel Prize? Answer: Yes, Marie Curie was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discoveries and studies of the elements radium and polonium. She is the only woman so far, who has been awarded the Nobel Prize twice. Question: Were there other members of Marie Curie's family who were awarded the Nobel Prize? Answer: Yes, Marie and Pierre's (who died in an accident in 1906) daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry , sharing it with her husband, Frédéric Joliot, for their synthesis of new radioactive elements. Sources: Marie Curie - How Nobel Winners Spend Their Prize Money - TIME How Nobel Winners Spend Their Prize Money The honor and prestige of winning a Nobel may be priceless, but nobody would pursue prestige if it didn't pay. The Nobel Prize's 2009 cash value: a cool $1.4 million.

Inside, a look at what laureates have done with the purse.  By Richard Friebe Marie Curie Henri Manuel / Hulton Archive / Getty Marie Curie was the first female professor at the Sorbonne and the first female Nobel laureate ever; together with her husband, physicist Pierre Curie, she was awarded half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for their work in spontaneous radiation (the other half went to Henri Becquerel for discovering it). She was also the only person to ever receive two Nobels in two different scientific categories  she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911, also for her work in radioactivity. Curie was serene, dignified, dedicated. Albert Einstein is said to have remarked that Curie, "of all celebrated beings, [is] the only one whom fame has not corrupted." She spent her winnings the way you'd expect, by pouring it into further research.

The payoffs were many and varied, including an unprecedented and unrepeated string of Nobels won by one family: In addition to the prize Pierre shared in 1903, Marie's daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, and her husband, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of artificial radioactivity. The downsides were also great. Marie's work with radioactive elements inflicted serious burns to her arms and hands  and perhaps triggered the leukemia that killed her at age 58.  R.F. Marie Curie Biography Facts Radium Nobel Prize Winner Resources Marie Curie Marie Curie committed her life to hard work and to innovation in the field of science. Despite having lived a life of hardship and great personal loss, Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and then became the first woman to win two Nobel Prizes. Marie Curie Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1867, Curie received science instruction from her father, a secondary-school teacher. Curie left Poland to study at the Sorbonne in Paris where she specialized in Physics and the Mathematical Sciences.

In 1895, she found a man who shared her passion for science. She married Pierre Curie, a physics professor who taught where she studied. Inspired by the work of Henri Becquerel, who discovered radioactivity in 1896, Curie, alongside her husband Pierre, delved deeper into radioactivity. Their research and analyses led to the development of methods for isolating polonium and radium. In 1898, Pierre and Marie Curie announced their discovery. This work serves as the foundation for much of what we know today about nuclear physics and chemistry. This innovation led to her and her husband earning one-half of the 1903 Nobel Prize, with Becquerel receiving the other half. Curie's life was not easy. She lost her oldest sister to sickness before age eleven. When she was twelve, she lost her mother to tuberculosis. Throughout her early career, she worked in very poor conditions. When not working on her research, Curie spent many hours teaching to support her family. She and husband Pierre had two daughters, Irene and Eve. In 1906, Pierre Curie, was killed in a street accident.

Marie Curie didn't let misfortune or even tragedy stop her from the work she was meant to do. Her work ethic and dedication earned her a Doctor of Science degree. She succeeded her husband as Head of the Physics Laboratory at the Sorbonne in Paris, and even took his place as a physics professor. She was the first woman to hold such a position. Later, she would become Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the newly founded University of Paris. In 1911, Madam Curie received a second Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work in radioactivity. Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, is the only woman to win in two fields, and is the only person to win in multiple sciences. Her work was published and celebrated, and she achieved recognition and acclaim amongst her peers. In 1929, President Hoover awarded her with enough money to buy radium to use in her laboratory. Despite the fame and the awards, and perhaps because she had seen so much suffering throughout her life, Curie actively worked to find uses for radium to ease illnesses. In 1934, following a brief illness, Curie died in France.

Her hard work and her momentum, even in the face of tragedy and great loss, earned her a legacy in the world of science forever securing her a place as one of the most famous women in history. There is a secret you don't know Besides the factual Marie Curie biography presented above that presents the famous female scientist as a tragic figure, the fact is she did like to have fun every once in a blue moon. For instance, Marie Curie was known to throw down a mean Hokey Pokey at the local Kiwanis Club and she was the first person in history to give a moose a Barium enema. 15 Women Who Have Won Science Nobel Prizes Since Marie Curie | Mental Floss 15 Women Who Have Won Science Nobel Prizes Since Marie Curie Getty Images Like us on Facebook 92Y’s “ 7 Days of Genius ” is a global conversation on the power of genius to make a positive impact on the world. From March 5 to 12, mental_floss joins 92Y in highlighting many women whose contributions to society—whether in business, science or the arts—are nothing short of genius.

Madame Marie Curie famously snagged two Nobel Prizes—for Physics in 1903 with husband Pierre and Henri Becquerel, and again in 1911 for Chemistry after discovering radium and polonium—but many other women have also been awarded the Physics, Chemistry, and Physiology or Medicine Nobels, too. Here are their stories. 1. Irène Joliot-Curie // Chemistry (1935) Getty Images The second woman to win a Nobel was Irène Curie, daughter of Pierre and Marie. She shared the Prize with her husband, Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie, for their discovery of “artificial radioactivity,” which they achieved by bombarding boron, aluminum, and magnesium with alpha particles to create radioactive isotopes. The Curies have more Nobel laureates than any other family. The pair publically adopted a hyphenated surname, but according to their daughter Hélène Langevin-Joliot, "Many people used to name my parents Joliot-Curie, but they signed their scientific papers Irène Curie and Frédéric Joliot." 2.

Gerty Theresa Cori // Physiology or Medicine (1947) Getty Images Gerty and her husband, Carl Cori, met in Prague and lived in Austria before immigrating to the United States in 1922, where the two medical doctors worked together (against the advice of their colleagues) at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York. The Coris studied carbohydrate metabolism, a specialty largely driven by Gerty’s father, a diabetic who asked her to find a cure for his disease. Though their collaboration was unusual (even called “un-American,” according to Carl’s autobiography), the Coris were an amazing team. Gerty was given first author credit on most of their papers, indicating that she did the majority of the research. In 1929, they proposed “the Cori cycle,” a hypothetical model of how the body uses chemical reactions to break down carbohydrates. In 1947, Gerty and Carl were awarded the Nobel in Physiology or Medicine, making Gerty Cori the first woman to hold the honor. In his speech, Carl spoke of their teamwork: "Our collaboration began 30 years ago when we were still medical students at the University of Prague and has continued ever since.

Our efforts have been largely complementary, and one without the other would not have gone as far as in combination." 3. Maria Goeppert-Mayer // Physics (1963) Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain German-born Maria Goeppert-Mayer studied Mathematics and Physics at the University of Göttingen, where, in 1930, she earned her Doctorate in Philosophy after writing her dissertation on two-photon absorption in atoms, a work Nobel laureate E.P. Wigner called "a masterpiece of clarity and concreteness." At the time, her work was purely theoretical; the laser hadn’t been invented yet, and no foreseeable method of testing its accuracy was available. In 1961, her theory was experimentally proven, and the unit for the two-photon absorption cross section was named the Goeppert-Mayer (GM) unit. Goeppert-Mayer moved to the U.S. with her husband, chemist Joseph Edward Mayer, in 1930. He worked at Johns Hopkins University, where she worked as an assistant to the Physics department. There, she also taught classes and conducted research in quantum physics.

In 1937, they moved to Columbia University, where Maria took an unpaid position in the Physics department where she worked with Harold Urey and Enrico Fermi. In 1942, she joined the Manhattan Project, working on methods of isolating uranium-235 from natural uranium. From there, she moved on to Los Alamos Laboratory, then Argonne National Laboratory, then to Aberdeen, where she programmed the ENIAC to solve criticality problems. While at Argonne, Goeppert-Mayer developed the nuclear shell model, a mathematical model for the structure of atomic nuclei. For this, she shared the 1963 Nobel Prize for Physics with J. Hans D. Jensen and Eugene Paul Wigner – the first woman to receive the award in 60 years. 4. Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin // Chemistry (1964) Getty Images Dorothy Hodgkin’s mother fostered her love of science as a child, and at age 18, she began studying chemistry at a women-only Oxford college. She earned her PhD at the University of Cambridge, where she first took an interest in X-ray crystallography and began studying the structure of proteins.

In 1934, she moved back to Oxford, where she was appointed the university’s first research chemistry fellow, a position she held until 1977. (She taught future Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1940s.) Through those years at Oxford, Hodgkin studied and discovered the three-dimensional structures of many biomolecules using X-ray crystallography: She confirmed the structure of penicillin in 1945. Her work on mapping vitamin B12 earned her the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964. Five years later, she discovered the structure of insulin, a project so far advanced beyond the then-current technology that she first spent years working with colleagues to improve their methods and tools. 5. Rosalyn Sussman Yalow // Physiology or Medicine (1977) Getty Images In 1941, WWII had begun and many scholarships for women became available as men went off to war. In 1945, thanks to these scholarships, Yalow earned her PhD in Physics at the University of Illinois. Afterward, she moved to the Bronx Veterans Administration Hospital, where she helped set up its new radioisotope lab.

With colleague Solomon Berson, she developed radioimmunoassay (RIA), a technique that measures tiny quantities of various substances in liquids, notably insulin in human blood. RIA has since been used to trace hundreds of hormones, enzymes, and vitamins and is essential to testing for cancer and other diseases, screening donated blood for hepatitis and other infections, and identifying therapeutic levels of drugs in the bloodstream. Despite its potential and eventual success, Yalow and Berson refused to patent their method. In 1977, Yalow was awarded the Nobel Prize for RIA, and with Roger Guillemin and Andrew V. Shally for devising the technique. 6. Barbara McClintock // Physiology or Medicine (1983) Getty Images McClintock received her Ph.D. in Botany from Cornell University in 1927, where she began her long career in maize cytogenetics, a study she would pursue for the rest of her life. McClintock’s research focused on chromosomal changes in maize during reproduction. Through this, she pioneered techniques for visualizing and analysis of maize chromosomes in order to illustrate how they change during reproduction.

She created the first genetic map of corn, and was the first to link its chromosomes to its physical traits; she also was the first to demonstrate that the telomere and centromere are important for conserving genetic information. McClintock (pictured with William Golding ) made many discoveries, but the one that won the Nobel was transposition—the theory that genes turn on and off physical characteristics. She was the first woman to win the Prize unshared in Physiology. 7. Rita Levi-Montalcini // Physiology or Medicine (1986) Getty Images Rita Montalcini studied at the University of Turin Medical School, but her academic career ended abruptly in 1938 when Benito Mussolini barred Jews from pursuing academic and professional careers. Instead, she worked from a laboratory in her home, where she studied the nerve development of chicken embryos. She moved to the United States in 1946 to attend Washington University in St. Louis for one semester. However, after repeating the results of experiments made in her home, she was offered a research position. Over the next 30 years, Levi-Montalcini would continue to study nerve growth, but her most important work was done in 1952.

That year, she and collaborator Stanley Cohen isolated nerve growth factors (NGFs), proteins that guide the growth, maintenance and survival of nerve tissue. Levi-Montalcini was the first Nobel laureate to reach the age of 100. She died in 2012, at 103 years old. 8. Gertrude B. Elion // Physiology or Medicine (1988) Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 4.0 Elion’s work, like Gerty Cori’s, was spurred by a relative’s disease: her grandfather died of stomach cancer when she was 15, and it was then that Elion decided to spend her life looking for a cure. She later said, "I had no specific bent toward science until my grandfather died of cancer. I decided nobody should suffer that much." After obtaining her Master’s in Chemistry from New York University, Elion worked as a teacher and lab assistant before moving to what is now GlaxoSmithKline. She, sometimes in conjunction with George H. Hitchings, developed a number of new pharmaceuticals designed to kill pathogens without harming healthy cells.

These include Purinethol, the first treatment for leukemia and an anti-rejection drug for organ transplant patients; Daraprim, for malaria; Zovirax, a treatment for viral herpes; Septra, a drug used to treat urinary and respiratory tract infections, meningitis, and septicemia; Nelarabine, a drug used in cancer treatment; and Imuran/AZT, the first immune-suppressive agent, which is used in organ transplantation and the treatment of AIDS. Elion and Hitchings shared the Prize in 1988 with Sir James W. Black, who developed the beta-blocker propranolol and cimetidine, a drug used to treat stomach ulcers. 9. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard // Physiology or Medicine (1995) Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0 FR Fruit flies are useful in genetic research because they’re small, quick to reproduce, and easy to maintain in a laboratory. Using fruit flies, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, a German biologist, has spent her life uncovering the molecular and genetic mechanisms that allow multicellular organisms to develop from a single cell (embryogenesis).

Her research of genetic mutation in fruit flies has allowed us to understand which genes are involved in different developmental processes, an understanding that applies to many species beyond fruit flies. Additionally, Nüsslein-Volhard’s work helps us understand evolution, thanks to her discoveries about the genetic makeup of a common ancestor for protostomes and deuterostomes. She was awarded the Prize in 1995, along with with Eric Wieschaus and Edward B. Lewis. 15811 Nüsslein-Volhard, an asteroid discovered in 1994, is named for her. 10. Linda B. Buck // Physiology or Medicine (2004) Getty Images Believe it or not, we didn’t really know how the sense of smell worked until 1991, when Linda B. Buck and Richard Axel published their research, which revealed not only the structure of the olfactory system, but also the mechanism olfaction – how we smell. Buck and Axel were able to clone olfactory receptors and analyze rat DNA to determine how the sense of smell works in all mammals. For this, the pair shared the Nobel in 2004. 11.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi // Physiology or Medicine (2008) Getty Images In 1975, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi earned her PhD at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, where she then began studying retroviruses. By 1983, she had discovered HIV. By 1988, she had her own research laboratory in the university and was studying the virus full-time. In addition to identifying the virus itself, Barré-Sinoussi’s research has revealed the methods by which HIV spreads and its connection to AIDS, and she has produced over 200 scientific publications regarding specific mechanisms in our immune systems and the virus itself. In 2008, Barré-Sinoussi shared the Nobel for Physiology or Medicine with Luc Mantagnier, her mentor, and Harold zur Hausen, who discovered HPV and developed the cervical cancer vaccine. Barré-Sinoussi continues to work with developing countries to address the spread of and improve the treatment for HIV/AIDS. 12. Ada E.

Yonath // Chemistry (2009) Getty Images Ada Yonath grew up in Jerusalem with limited means; despite her family’s poverty, her parents sent her to an affluent school. In 1942, she moved to Tel Aviv after her father’s death, where she attended Tichon Hadash high school. She couldn’t afford tuition, so the school allowed her to attend if she gave math lessons to other students. By 1964, she had earned a PhD in X-ray Crystallography from the Weizmann Institute of Science. In 1970, she founded the first (and for a long time, only) protein crystallography lab in Israel. Yonath pioneered cryo bio-crystallography, the technique she uses to study microbe ribosomes and their mechanisms, despite harsh criticism from the scientific community. Today, cryo bio-crystallography is taught as a standard technique in structural biology.

Yonath’s body of research has revealed much more than the structure of microbe ribosomes; thanks to her work, we know how many antibiotics work, why some bacteria are drug-resistant, and discovered the structural basis for antibiotic selectivity—all of which are now used in research labs to design more effective drugs. For her work on protein biosynthesis and peptide bond formation, Yonath earned the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009. Today, she is the director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly of the Weizmann Institute of Science. 13 and 14. Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol W. Greider // Physiology or Medicine (2009) Getty Images Elizabeth Blackburn was born in Tasmania in 1948. She earned her Master’s degree at the University of Melbourne, then her PhD from the University of Cambridge. By 1981, she was at the University of California, Berkeley. Carolyn Widney Greider was born in San Diego. She received her B.A.

in Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1983, then studied at the University of Göttingen for a time before returning to California in 1983 to earn her PhD at UCSF, where she studied under Elizabeth Blackburn. Both women research telomeres, the end caps of chromosomes created by repeating stacks of “extra” DNA bases. When DNA replicates, these telomeres are shortened and the chromosomes deteriorate—the cause of aging and chromosome fusion, which leads to cancer. Blackburn and Greider set out to find a hypothetical enzyme that protects the telomere. Greider, according to Blackburn, worked diligently—often 12 hours or more a day. On Christmas Day, 1984, Greider’s results indicated that she had in fact located the mysterious telomere-protecting enzyme, which was still unnamed. Six months later, the pair published their results in the journal Cell: they had discovered telomerase. In an interview, Blackburn said: Carol had done this experiment, and we stood, just in the lab, and I remember sort of standing there, and she had this – we call it a gel.

It's an autoradiogram, because there was trace amounts of radioactivity that were used to develop an image of the separated DNA products of what turned out to be the telomerase enzyme reaction. I remember looking at it and just thinking, ‘Ah! This could be very big. This looks just right.’ Blackburn and Greider’s Prize in 2009 marked the first award shared by more than one woman. 15. May-Britt Moser // Physiology of Medicine (2014) Getty Images Moser was honored in 2014 for the "discovery of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain." From Nobel.org : "In 2005, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser discovered a type of cell that is important for determining position close to the hippocampus, an area located in the center of the brain. They found that when a rat passed certain points arranged in a hexagonal grid in space, nerve cells that form a kind of coordinate system for navigation were activated. They then went on to demonstrate how these different cell types cooperate." This story originally ran in 2015.

100 Years Ago: Marie Curie Wins 2nd Nobel Prize - Scientific American Scientific American 100 Years Ago: Marie Curie Wins 2nd Nobel Prize The greatest woman scientist, twice recipient of the Nobel Prize Report Ad From Scientific American, November 25, 1911, Volume 105 FEMINISM very nearly won a great victory in the French Academy of Sciences on January 23rd, 1911, when, in the election of a successor to the deceased academician Gernez, Marie Sklodowska Curie was defeated by two votes. At a joint meeting of the five academies which compose the Institut de France, a majority had opposed the admission of women, as contrary to tradition, but each academy was left to decide the question for itself. The Academy of Fine Arts had a few women members long ago but the Academy of Sciences has never admitted a woman. It was, perhaps, the opposition of the anti-feminists that induced Mme. Curie to apply as a candidate for the chair in the section of physics left vacant by Gernez, and formerly occupied by her husband and collaborator, Pierre Curie. In the preliminary grading of candidates Mme.

Curie was placed alone, in the first grade, while her competitors, five eminent men of science, were assigned to the second grade. Mme. Curie, however, received only 28 of the 65 votes (the Academy consists of 66 members), while 30 votes were cast for Edouard Branly. There were good reasons for this choice, entirely apart from considerations of sex. Branly is a physicist of world-wide celebrity who, unlike Mme. Curie, has received few honors and emoluments. He invented the coherer for the detection of electric waves and to him Marconi’s first wireless message was addressed. Many of the academicians naturally desired to recognize the very important part played by their compatriot in the development of wireless telegraphy. Moreover, Branly is sixty-four years old and this was his third candidacy, while Mme. Curie is only forty-three and had never before applied for admission. It is not customary to admit a candidate on the first application, and Mme. Curie’s chance of living until the next vacancy shall occur is greater than Branly’s. Who is this remarkable woman who so nearly surmounted these formidable obstacles?

The dry and formal account of herself and her work which she submitted with her application, according to custom, is perhaps more eloquent than an exhaustive biography. Marie Sklodowska was born in Warsaw November 7th, 1867. She became a student in the University of Paris where she attained the degrees of licentiate in physics in 1893 and licentiate in mathematics in 1894. In 1896 she received a certificate of fitness for the secondary instruction of girls, and in 1900 became lecturer in physics in the Ecole normale superieure for girls in Sevres. In 1903 she received the degree of doctor of physical science, in 1906 she became lecturer in general physics in the University of Paris, and in 1909 s he was promoted to the professorship of general physics, as successor to her lately deceased husband, Prof. Pierre Curie, to whom she was married in 1895. She is an honorary or foreign member of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the London Chemical Society, the American Philosophical Society, the American Chemical Society, the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St.

Petersburg, the Royal Swedish Academy and other learned bodies, and has received the honorary title of Doctor from the universities of Geneva and Edinburgh. In 1898 Mme. Curie, then thirty-one years of age, received the Gegner prize from the French Academy of Sciences, nominally for her extensive researches relating to the magnetic properties of iron and steel, although the report of the awarding committee also alludes, in terms of the highest commendation, to the researches in radio-activity which she had already begun, in co-operation with her husband, and to their recent discovery of the radio-active element which Mme. Curie named Polonium, in honor of her native country. The Gegner prize was awarded to Mme. Curie again in 1300, and a third time in 1902, together with the Berthelot medal. In 1903 the Nobel prize for physical science was awarded, half to Mons. and Mme. Curie and half to Henri Becquerel, whose discovery of the spontaneous radio-activity of uranium ore formed the basis of all subsequent researches in radio-activity. Only a few days ago we heard the news that Mme.

Curie has been honored with the Nobel prize a second time, on this occasion in the division of chemistry. The list of medals and prizes which have been awarded to Mme. Curie in foreign countries is too long to quote. In addition to the numerous researches in radioactivity which she made in collaboration with her husband, Mme. Curie has published a great many independent papers, and a volume, “Investigations of Radio-active Substances,”; in which the results of their co-operative researches, including the epoch-making discovery of radium, are set forth. Radium and polonium are not the only fruits of this ideal marriage, which was blessed by the birth of two children who already give evidence of inheriting the genius of their parents. After the shocking and untimely death of Pierre Curie, who was killed by a truck on a Paris bridge, in 1906, at the age of fifty-seven, a large majority of his colleagues recommended to the ministry of public instruction the appointment of his widow and coadjutor as his successor. The result is that this gifted woman, the only one of her sex who has ever received this high honor, is now a full professor in the venerable Sorbonne.

All who have seen Mme. Curie at work in her laboratory, or have listened to her lectures, have been impressed by her undemonstrative zeal, her abstraction from external disturbances and her aversion to sensational effects. The early life of Marie Sklodowska Curie is less well-known to the general public than the later phase, in which she has become famous. And yet there is a peculiar romantic, and indeed pathetic interest attached to the incidents of her youth. Her father was a distinguished physicist, and professor of chemistry at Warsaw, Poland. Her mother died when the child was yet quite young. Marie grew up in her father’s laboratory, imbibing the spirit of scientific research, and acquiring that sureness of eye and skill of hand which is so indispensable to the worker in experimental science. It is no doubt largely to her very early initiation into the technique of laboratory work that her extraordinary ability in this direction must be ascribed. Marie’s apprenticeship was, however, brought to a rather early close by the pressure of necessity. As the daughter of an impecunious college professor, the eighteen-year-old girl set out to earn her own living as governess to the daughters of a Russian nobleman.

But Providence had destined her for another fate. In one of those agitations which have been so common in the history of Russia, a patriotic society of students at Warsaw was brought under the scrutiny of the ever-suspicious government, and for fear of being compelled to testify against some of her father’s pupils, Marie migrated from her home country and took up her abode in Paris. There she lived for a time a life of the utmost privation. Her repeated efforts to obtain employment in one of the laboratories seemed to avail her nothing. Finally she was allowed to perform some of the trivial offices in connection with the preparation of laboratory experiments. And once this meager foothold was gained, it was but a matter of days before the extraordinary faculties of the new assistant had attracted the attention and caused the amazement of the head of the department, Prof. Lippmann. The eminent scientist befriended the girl, and incidentally also introduced her to one of his most promising pupils, Pierre Curie, with whom she became associated in research, and later, in the bonds of wedlock.

It was she who fanned to new endeavor the fagging spirits of her husband, in those moments of discouragement which are apt to come to all engaged in intense scientific research. And together they gained the undying trophies of fame, when, with the isolation of radium salts, the name of Curie suddenly rose to international renown. And then, not many years later, fell that terrible blow, separating the two who together had faced the hardships of everyday life, and in strangely perfect union had toiled, against much discouragement, to reap the precious harvest of scientific research. While crossing the street Prof.. Curie tripped and fell, and was instantly killed by a passing truck. Thus in an evil hour France was bereft of one of her greatest physicists, the world of a genius, and Madame Curie If her life companion and husband. Her composure, upon receiving the terrible news, is commented upon by the Gaulois: “Nothing could have been more characteristic of the wonderful Madame Curie, than the coolness with which she received the news of her bereavement. There were no tears, no traces of grief.

Over and over she repeated : ‘Pierre is dead.’’’ One fee1s that here perhaps the Frenchman, with his demonstrative temperament, somewhat misjudges this great woman. The deepest emotions are not always those that can find their vent through the common channels of physical expression. To us there seems something infinitely pathetic in the monotonous repetition of that simple and sad formula, as the mind that with the insight of a genius has successfully grappled with some of the most abstruse problems presented to the science of to-day in the realm of inanimate matter, is brought face to face with the great problem of life and death. Here all men are on a level, and impartially fate has dealt to this great genius as to us all life’s share of human sorrow. Yet with unbroken spirit, and with renewed devotion she turns to continue now in loneliness, her great life work, her priceless gift to humanity. One can not help reflecting on the retribution dealt by fate to the Eastern monarchy-that makes life unendurable to the scholar of independent thought-in taking from her the woman who would have added the brightest laurel to Russia’s wreath of scientific attainment. Advertisement | Marie Curie Marie Curie (b.

1867-1934) Marie Curie is one of the most famous scientists that ever lived. Her contributions such as the discovery of Radium and other key elements help us out every day, especially when getting an x-ray. Manya,as she was called, was born Maria Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867. Maria was only eight when her oldest sister caught typhus and died. That death was followed less than three years later by the death of her mother, Madame Sklodowska, who lost a five-year battle with tuberculosis at the age of 42. The surviving family members, Professor Sklodowski, his son Joseph and his daughters Bronya, Hela, and Maria drew closer to one another. Manya was the star student in her class. Her personal losses did not block her academic success. After graduating at the age of 15, Maria hoped to get an advanced degree, but while Joseph was able to enroll in the medical school at the University of Warsaw, women were not allowed to. In 1891, she attended Sorbonne and changed her name to Marie.

Marie realized that neither her math or science background nor her ability in technical French equaled that of her fellow students. Refusing to let go of her goals, she was determined to overcome these drawbacks through hard work. Marie finished first in her master's degree physics course in the summer of 1893 and second in math the following year. Having little money stood in the way of her math degree, but senior French scientists recognized her abilities and were able to help her by awarding a scholarship. In Paris she met her future husband and collaborator, Pierre Curie. Pierre was Lab Chief for the Paris Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry. Marie and Pierre shared lab space. Pierre gave Marie a lab of her own. In Marie, Pierre found an equal with a comparable devotion to science. They would soon marry and have two daughters. The Curies would work together and combine to receive the Nobel Prize in 1903 for their research with radium. The Curies published in detail all the processes they used to isolate radium, without patenting any of them. Radium was tightly linked with the Curies.

Pierre's pioneering work on the effects of radium on living organisms showed it could damage tissue, and this discovery was put to use against cancer and other diseases. Health and Financial concerns were not the only problems to plague the Curies as Marie wound up her thesis research. Hardship would soon follow Marie once again with her husband dying in an accident. Pierre's life ended tragically on April 19, 1906, when he slipped and fell in the street. His head was crushed under the wheel of a horse-drawn car. Marie took over his classes and continued her own research. It was the first time that a woman would hold an important university research position. She would work harder than ever and receive much prestige. She won the Nobel Prize again in 1911. Rumors and gossip surround the award: many jealous scientists snipe that she has been awarded the Nobel Prize only out of pity, since her husband, Pierre, has recently died, while others alleged that she is "morally unfit" to receive the prize because of an affair with a married man, Paul Langevin, a long time family friend and a student of Pierre's. Paul was known as a sexist and a philanderer.

When word of the affair reached the public, it nearly destroyed Marie's career and public standing in the scientific community. When the scandal broke, no one in the physics community supported Marie. Earlier in the year, the Swedish Academy informed Marie that she would again receive the Nobel Prize. When letters to Paul were published in a newspaper in Paris, the Academy told her that they did not want her to come to the public ceremony in Stockholm. Marie defied their wishes and went to the ceremony. Eventually, her honor and reputation were restored. During World War I, Marie worked as an "X-ray technician," taught radiological technology, and equipped mobile X-ray vans to assist in the war effort. She became head of the Paris Institute of Radium in 1914 and helped found the Curie Institute. Her health deteriorated quickly but still she worked diligently. In 1934 at the age of 67, she died from leukemia, thought to have been from research. Marie would lead an exciting life receiving 15 gold medal awards, 19 degrees, and many other honors. Mary Curie has opened a lot of doors for the young women today. Annotated Bibliography Ashburn, Norma.

"Her Life as a Media Compendium." The Warsaw Times: Marie Sklodowska Curie, 2000. (15 December 2005). This talks about the life and times of Marie Curie and shows articles from the Warsaw Times.� Coppes-Zatinga, Arty R. "Radium and Curie." Canadian Medical Association Journal. 159 (1998): 1389. � This medical journal focuses on the one-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Radium by Marie and Pierre Curie. It deals with the expression of news from the discovery by the amazing scientists. The medical journal then goes on to explaining Marie�s death due to radiation and the harmful effects it has.�� Curie, Eve. Madame Curie. Garden City, New Jersey: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1937. The author of this book is the youngest daughter of Marie Curie. She has written this book by using records and letters of her mothers. Her own personal experience also is used in the book. The text is easy to follow and the writing is very clear.

Pictures in the book give it an inside look at Marie.� D.B."X-rays, not radium, may have killed Curie." Nature 377 (1995): 96. � This article deals with Marie�s fatal illness that brought her to her death. All signs of her dying are toward her experimentation with radiation. But they examine her work during World War I and her uses of X-rays. It is an interesting look at how they determine her cause of death. They author also speculates that the radiation is escaping from the dead corpses. Moore, Victoria. "Madame Marie Sklodowska Curie: An Extraordinary Life of Breaking Boundaries." Breaking Boundaries. [under Poland go to "Famous Poles" page and link to Marie Sklodowska Curie] � (16 December 2005). � This site gives a brief outline on Marie and her studies. It includes charts and diagrams relating to her scientific studies. Pasachoff , Naomi E. "Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity." Marie Curie Polish/French Physicist. 2000. � (15 December 2005).

� This site is very informative in that it gives the basic information about Marie and her discoveries. Pasachoff, Naomi E. Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity. London, England: Oxford University, 1996. � This book examines the life of the Polish-born scientist whom, with her husband Pierre, was awarded a 1903 Nobel Prize for discovering radium. This account of the life and work of the French chemist, Polish-born, provides an in-depth look at the person as well as the scientist whose work with radioactivity led to two Nobel Prizes. Brief but thorough insets throughout the book explain the science behind Curie's accomplishments. Historical photographs accompany the text. � Pflaum, Rosalyn, Grand Obsession-Madame Curie and Her World. Bantam, Dell, Doubleday. New York. 1989. � Marie Curie�s fascination with science was developed early on by her father. School only elevated her curiosity and led her to a life of discovery. This book displays her love for science and her husband Pierre. Pictures help to relay the information more clearly. � Poynter, Margaret, Marie Curie: Discoverer of Radium.

Chicago, Illinois: Enslow Publishers, 1994.� In an easy-to-read format, the biography emphasizes Marie Curie's early life of poverty, desire to study, and contributions to the fields of chemistry, physics, and medicine. The science activities and the Periodic Table of Elements provided at the end of the book take away from the volume's biographical intent. Black-and-white photographs are included. � � Quinn, Susan, Marie Curie: A Life. New York, NY.: Perseus Publishing, 1996. � This biography does an excellent job of explaining both the importance of Marie Curie's scientific work, and how she experienced life herself. The author Susan Quinn gives detailed descriptions of her studies in the science world. It also includes information drawn from previously unavailable letters that Curie wrote to Pierre, her husband, who unfortunately had an accidental death.� � Quinn, Susan. Family Element Washington, D.C.: The New Republic, April 10, 1995. This book tells of the family influence on Marie Curie from her physicist father to her sister who held a doctorate degree. Gives a detailed description of her trials and tribulations.

Maps and pictures help to set the stage for her story. � � Raynal, Florence. "A Nobel Prize Pioneer at the Panth�on." Science: Marie Curie, 1997. � (15 December 2005). This web site includes information on when Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize. It talks of her other accomplishments in the field of science. Shearer Barbara S, ed., Notable Women in the Physical Sciences. Greenwood Press. London, Benjamin F.1997. This gives bibliographies of the many distinguished women in sciences that have made contributions to the world. Marie Curie�s chapter gives information on her discovery and it�s contribution to society. It looks at her to devotion to her work by explaining her death from radiation exposure. Winter, Mark. "Maria Sklodowska-Curie 1867-1934." Marie Curie, 1998. < ~zbzw/ph/sci/msc.htm > (16 December 2005).� This is the only site that you would have to see in order to learn anything and everything about Marie. It has over 50 links to other sites about Marie.

This is the best site on Marie. Wolke, Robert L, "Marie Curie's doctoral thesis: prelude to a Nobel prize," Journal of Chemical Education 65, (1988): 561-73.� This journal article is very informative to those who seek to go more in depth and look as Marie�s work. The author writes in an inspiring way about Marie�s hard work and determination to excel. He describes her doctoral thesis and talks about her being the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.

Question: How many Nobel prizes did Marie curie win?
Answer: Two