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Thesis on radioactivity
Essay on scientists Marie Curie
Thesis on radioactivity
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Marie Curie once said “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less” (“Marie Curie Quotes”). Many people are fearful of radioactivity and its effects on a person’s health, but Marie Curie dedicated her life to researching radioactivity so more could be understood about radioactivity. Marie Curie was a pioneer in physics and an inspiration for women in scientific fields. Thanks to Marie Curie’s curiosity, radioactivity is something that is understood today, so people can be less fearful. Through the examination of the life and accomplishments of Marie Curie, her influence on the world, especially for her work in physics and chemistry, it becomes abundantly clear that …show more content…
This is an example of one of the many times Marie Curie faced discrimination throughout her career. Then, in 1894, Marie Curie met a French physicist, Pierre Curie, who was studying magnetism and crystals; they were married in 1895 (Des Jardins). Pierre and Marie were both conducting similar research which likely contributed to their relationship. In 1903, Marie Curie was the first woman in France to receive a PhD in physics. “Professors who reviewed her doctoral thesis , which was about radiation, declared that it was the greatest single contribution to science ever written” (Des Jardins). This shows that Marie Curie had excelled in her career despite growing up in poverty. After her husband died in a carriage accident in 1906, Marie was asked to fill her husband’s position at the University of Paris (“Marie Curie Biography”). At Marie Curie’s first lecture, “Hundreds of people - students, artists, photographers, celebrities - lined up outside the university on November 5, 1906, hoping to attend her first lecture” (Des Jardins). This is an
“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.”- Dalai Lama. In my opinion, the chocolate chip cookie has an interesting story. A woman named Ruth Wakefield discovered this delicious treat and from then on, everyone came to know it as the famous chocolate chip cookie. In fact, the chocolate chip cookie is one of America’s favorite cookies. Ruth Wakefield was an amazing and very lucky baker.
An influential American printmaker and painter as she was known for impressionist style in the 1880s, which reflected her ideas of the modern women and created artwork that displayed the maternal embrace between women and children; Mary Cassatt was truly the renowned artist in the 19th century. Cassatt exhibited her work regularly in Pennsylvania where she was born and raised in 1844. However, she spent most of her life in France where she was discovered by her mentor Edgar Degas who was the very person that gave her the opportunity that soon made one of the only American female Impressionist in Paris. An exhibition of Japanese woodblock Cassatt attends in Paris inspired her as she took upon creating a piece called, “Maternal Caress” (1890-91), a print of mother captured in a tender moment where she caress her child in an experimental dry-point etching by the same artist who never bared a child her entire life. Cassatt began to specialize in the portrayal of children with mother and was considered to be one of the greatest interpreters in the late 1800s.
In 1917 a young female right out of high school started working at a radium factory in Orange, New Jersey. The job was mixing water, glue and radium powder for the task of painting watch dials, aircraft switches, and instrument dials. The paint is newly inventive and cool so without hesitation she paints her nails and lips with her friends all the while not knowing that this paint that is making them radiant, is slowly killing them. This was the life of Grace Fryer. Today there are trepidations on the topic of radiation from fears of nuclear fallout, meltdowns, or acts of terrorism. This uneasiness is a result of events over the past one hundred years showing the dangers of radiation. Although most accidents today leading to death from radiation poisoning occur from human error or faults in equipment, the incident involving the now named "radium girls" transpired from lack of public awareness and safety laws. (introduce topics of the paper)
Florence Joyner was the American woman, who most female track runners wanted to be like. Many may know Joyner as “Flo Jo”. She was given that name because of her great speed. Joyner is considered to be the fastest woman of all time, based on the fact that she set the world record in 1988 in the 100m dash and 200m dash. Since her death, her records still stands in the 100m dash and 200m dash, running a 10.49 and 21.34. There are very fascinating and inspiring things about Joyner that some people may not know about her.
Marie Curie, originally Maria Sklodowska, was born in Warsaw on November 7, 1867. She was the fifth-born and the youngest child and both her parents were schoolteachers. Marie lived in Warsaw her whole life until her mid-twenties, where she went to school and was also taught math and physics by her father. Her oldest sister and mother passed away during her childhood—her sister dying from typhus and her mother dying from tuberculosis. The deaths in her family caused Marie to become agnostic at the age of fifteen. Due to the fact that she was a woman, Marie was not able to receive a better education at normal institutions so she and her sister involved themselves with Flying University—a university that accepted females as students.
Marie Curie’s impact is felt far beyond the improved understanding of radioactivity and the advancement of the research area of chemistry. Her work and efforts also have made a difference to society in general. She is widely regarded as a role model for female scientists, having been the first women to ever win a Nobel Prize and the only person to ever receive Nobel Prizes in two sciences, which was not easy considering the favoritism towards men in the field during her lifetime. She was also known to be an outstanding person in general, have such high standards and very honest and
Marie Curie and Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin both achieved great discoveries for the human society. They saw the invisible of nature as visible in their own perspective. Therefore, their purpose gave them an insight of what seems to invisible to visible. Marie Curie studied the radiation of all attributes of radioactive elements. She then realized that these elements can be measured by their strength. Marie Curie was able to make something that doesn’t seem to exist and make it into existence. Therefore, she proved her hypothesis that there is another element that has a stronger radiation than uranium and thorium. And therefore that was how Marie Curie saw the invisible to visible.
“The life of Marie Curie demonstrates that one person can make a difference in the world. She overcame obstacles of poverty, fear, depression, discrimination, personal grief, and public humiliation to accomplish groundbreaking scientific work” (McClafferty114). Marie Curie had a rough childhood and was unable to go school because she was a girl. Her dream was to go to school and learn about science. Instead of giving up on her dream, she taught herself and ended up having an opportunity to go to college. Through her education, she discovered polonium and radium. She later received two Nobel Prizes and became the first female professor at the University of Paris. She dedicated the majority of her life to science and helping society.
Marie Curie was born the youngest child of five, to parents which were both teachers, Marie was driven to excel. A top student at her secondary school, she could not attend an all men only university. Because it was illegal at the time for girls to attend school, she attended an underground night school with her sisters. She continued her education at the “floating University” it was Warsaw’s underground classes held in secret. Since they were poor, neither Marie Curie nor her sister could afford to pay for school. They made a deal that Marie would work first and her sister would go to school. Once her sister was done and able she would help Marie attend school. Marie Curie was a tutor and a governess for five years in order to make money and support her sister and pay for her sister’s education. She finally went to Paris in 1891 and enrolled in the Sorbonne. She was so involved with her studies and that affected her health and she got ill from spending all her time on studies. She had very little funds, enough just to pay for buttered bread and tea, and her health also suffered from her poor diet. Curie continued to get her master’s degree in physics in 1893, and another degree in mathematics the y...
Rachel Carson had a very exciting life, she never was in the same job for more than five years, always was doing something never sits around. She made many books about wildlife.
The famous marine biologist, Rachel Carson, lived a beautiful, happy childhood. She always wanted to see the sparkling, blue ocean. She grew up just outside Pittsburgh with her mother, father and older sister and brother, Marian and Robert. Rachel loved nature and her mother told her about all the birds and animals. Rachel enjoyed exploring green fields and woods. At school, Rachel was an A student, though was usually absent because she stayed home to study plants and animals. When Rachel was young, she wrote books and at age ten her books were published. Rachel spent her first two years of high school at her elementary and middle school. The other two years were spent at Parnassus High School. Rachel went to college at Pennsylvania College
Marie was a studious child who has a scientific role model at an adolescent age. She was born Marya Sklodowska to Bronisława Boguska Sklodowska and Ladislas Sklodowski in Warsaw, Poland. Her father was a physicist and as a child, Marie was interested in his physic tools. During school, Marie was focused and motivated. She graduated highest in her class when she was fifteen. Marie had to save up money by tutoring before she could enter a higher education. When she earned enough, she altered her given name to its French version and attended the Sorbonne in France. Her initial encounters with science and her hardworking demeanor helped lay a foundation for Marie's work later in life.
Rachel Carson was born in May 27, 1907 in Springdale, Pennsylvania. She’s known for her best selling book Silent Spring which talks about the dangers of pollution and how it affects the environment. Growing up she lived in a farm which her mother, taught her to know more about nature and wildlife while her father wasn’t home as much. Her mother had inspired Rachel to be interested in literature which eventually she knew that she wanted to be a writer. However, when she reached to college, she changed her major from English to Biology after she had realized her actual love for Science.
That same year Marie met Pierre Curie, an aspiring French physicist. A year later Maria Sklodowska became Madame Curie. Marie and Pierre worked as a scientific team, in 1898 their achievements resulted in world importance, in particular the discovery of polonium (which Marie named in honor of Poland) and the discovery of Radium a few months later. The birth of her two daughters, Irene and Eve, in 1897 and 1904 did not interrupt Maria's work. In 1903, Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for Physics. The award jointly awarded to Curie, her husband Pierre, and Henri Becquerel, was for the discovery of radioactivity. In December 1904 she was appointed chief assistant in the laboratory directed by Pierre Curie.
The impact of nuclear power on the modern world has improved Various sectors of the economy and society .i.e. Food and Agriculture, Insect control, Food Preservation, Water Resources, Military, Medicine, Research and Industry. “In 1911 George de Hevesy conducted the first application of a radioisotope. At the time de Hevesy was a young Hungarian student working in Manchester with naturally radioactive materials. Not having much money he lived in modest accommodation and took his meals with his landlady. He began to suspect that some of the meals that appeared regularly might be made from leftovers from the preceding days or even weeks, but he could never be sure. To try and confirm his suspicions de Hevesy put a small amount of radioactive material into the remains of a meal. Several days later when the same dish was served again he used a simple radiation detection instrument - a gold leaf electroscope - to check if the food was radioactive. It was, and de Hevesy's suspicions were confirmed.