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Marie
Curie : a famous European woman.
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Why Marie Curie ?
We have chosen to study Marie Curie, her life, her work and her discoveries because during her entire life, she proved a lot of qualities, like intelligence, courage and modesty.
She was awarded a Nobel Prize that should have made her proud, happy but she preferred to devote her life to Science, not to celebrity or a happy existence. We have a high regard for this humility and this devotion to her work and her research.
When she was a young woman, the Russians occupied her country the Poland. These people wanted to destroy the Polish culture and they wanted the Poles to speak only Russian. But Marie, with several other young Poles taught the polish language in secret to children, because she did not want the Polish culture to disappear. So proved already her courage and her will to persevere when she met some difficulties and danger.
Later, she worked very hard to discover the radium: she had to extract it for long years in a cold laboratory. This work was inhuman but she had to do it in all sort of weather conditions. Through this time, she also had to bring up her child. But through these terrible years, she did not give up because she wanted to go to the end of her work.
When she had been allowed her first Nobel Prize, in 1903, it didn’t change a lot of things in her every day life: she was famous but she continued to work, to live simply but she had to go to conferences, dinners and to bring up her two children. In spite of her tiredness: so she was really a courageous woman.
Despite her courage, a terrible event moved her deeply: her husband Pierre died in 1906. Nevertheless, she had to continue their common work.
And, for the first time, a woman talked at the University "La Sorbonne" in front of an assembly of students and journalists continuing the course of her husband.
All these examples show the courage, the humility and the intelligence of a woman who did not stop to persevere in her work. But we think that her courage should be her best quality: to give an other example, during World War One, she went on the battlefield where she used the radiology that she had discovered to treat the injured soldiers.
So we chose an exceptional woman who devoted her qualities for Science.
Presentation of her life
Marie SKLODOWSKA was born on the 7th November of 1867 in Varsovie, the capital of Poland. At this moment, the Russians who occupied the Poland wanted to destroy its culture and to impose Russian as language to the Poles. Marie, who became a young twenty years old woman, decided with several others young people to teach pole language to the children who did not know it. For four years, Marie became a teacher to earn money, because she wanted to go and study in France.
Eventually, in 1891, she came to Paris and she went to "La Sorbonne".
At the end of her studies, she met a young French scientist, Pierre CURIE, and they became friends at once. One year later, they got married. They decided to work together on the discovery of a French physicist who had noticed some mysterious radius in the uranium.
The physic and chemistry school gave to Pierre and Marie a poor laboratory where they could start their researches. So for four years, from 1898 to 1902, they worked very hard to extract the radium from the uranium. Fortunately, their effort was a success: they discovered the radioactivity of the radium and several properties of it (it produced some heat, light, radiation and gas).
With these discoveries, some doctors achieved to treat some cancers because of the properties of the radium.
The 6th June of 1904, in consequence of their work Pierre and Marie CURIE were allowed the Physic Nobel Prize. They received a lot of congratulations letters and invitations that came from all the word.
But Pierre and Marie continued their simple life, their researches and also the education of their children.
But Pierre died the 19th April 1906; Marie decided to keep on their researches in spite of her grief and to continue also the lessons that Pierre gave at the "Sorbonne". Therefore the 5th November 1906, a woman spoke in the amphitheatre of the "Sorbonne" in front of a crowd made up of students and journalists.
Marie made discoveries. In consequence of that, in 1911, she was awarded the Chemistry Nobel Prize: at this moment, it was exceptional for a woman to be awarded two Nobel Prize in her life but, unhappily, because Marie CURIE in close contacts with the radioactivity, she failed seriously ill. But nobody knew the terrible consequences of the radioactivity and the doctors could not treat her.
She had to make a long convalescence, but the World War began and from 1914 to 1918, Marie decided to use one of her discoveries, the radiology to treat he injured soldiers on the battlefields. And she taught the radiology to a lot of doctors.
Peace came and Marie was happy: her country, Poland, was free. She created the Radium Foundation in Varsovie and helped her country to develop.
But she died in 1934 and the entire world cried her.
The discoveries of Pierre and Marie CURIE are used now in the whole world and the Radium allows the human being to make progress in a lot of fields: medicine, sciences etc…
In conclusion, to our mind, Marie CURIE has been a good example of a European woman who helped humanity.
Aurélien ,Thibault and Thibaut
Quiz
1) Do you know Marie Curie?
Yes No
2) When did she live?
20TH-21TH century 10th- 11th
14th-15th 19th –20th
3) What did she receive?
The Nobel Prize of Physic
The Nobel Prize of Chemistry
4) Was she married?
Yes No
5) With who?
A French scientist An English writer
An American sport competitor
6) What did she discover?
Radium lithium
Carbon hydrogen
7) Do you know her nationality?
Swedish English
German French
8) Why did she die?
Radioactivity Assassinated
Disease Suicide