The Life And Accomplishments Of Marie Curie

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Marie Curie was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland. Her first few years were very trying on her spirits; her sister died from typhus, and four years later, her mother. Despite her difficult childhood, however, Curie went on to graduate at the top of her high school class at the age of fifteen. Due to her gender and Russian reprisals following the January Uprising, she was prohibited from going to a university, and therefore attended the illegal "underground" Flying University. In 1891, however, Curie left Poland and enrolled in the Sorbonne, and graduated first in her undergraduate class in 1893, and in 1894 she earned a Master's Degree in mathematics. In the midst of her studies she fell in love and In July, 1895, Curie married fellow scientist Pierre Curie, and together they studied radioactive materials. They also managed to find time to start a family; in 1897 Curie gave birth to her first baby girl, Irene. Although she was now a mother, Curie managed to continue her scientific studies and schooling. Like her childhood, Marie's adult life was not without its tragedies as well. In August, 1903, Curie experienced a miscarriage, and she wrote of her sadness to her sister Bronya, "I had grown so accustomed to the idea of the child that I am absolutely desperate and cannot be consoled." (August 25, 1903). Despite this unfortunate event, 1903 was still a very important year for her career-wise, because under the doctoral supervision of Henri Becquerel, she received her Doctor of Science from the Higher School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry of the City of Paris. Also, In 1903 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics along with her husband and Henri Becquerel. Although the Nobel Prize is a prestigious award by itself, i...

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...e Curie. Marie's other daughter, Irene, died in 1956.

Although Marie Curie's relentless study of radium ultimately led to her death, she made remarkable accomplishments and helped the field of science, and the world in general, immensely, and because of their many contributions, in 1944, Element 96, Curium, was named in honor of Marie Curie and her husband Pierre.

Bibliography

1. Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901-1921. Elsevier Publishing Company. Amsterdam, 1967.

2. Barbara Goldsmith. Obsessive Genius. New York, NY. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2005.

3. Eve Curie. Madame Curie. New York, NY. Doubleday, 1937.

4. Pasachoff, Naomi. "Marie Curie: Her Story in Brief." The American Institute of Physics. 1996. Oxford University Press. 24 Sept. 2006 .

5. Gribbin, John, and Mary Gribbin. Curie in 90 Minutes. 1st ed. London, England: Constable & Company Limited, 1997.

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