Marie Curie

Prologue

I wanted to write this article because I noticed Marie Curie was very engaging and important. Another reason I wanted to do this is that everyone knows a lot about her so there’s a lot of facts so I can put a lot of information in this biography. I thought she was very interesting because I was reading about Radium and Polonium and in both of them appeared the name: Marie Curie. After this I wanted to find out more about her.

Introduction

Marie Curie (born 7 November 1867), was a researcher and a teacher. While she was a researcher she discovered two new elements: Radium and Polonium, but I’ll tell you more later. While she was a teacher she taught science, physics and chemistry.

Family

Marie Curie’s parents: Władysław Skłodowski and Bronisława Skłodowski. Gave birth in Poland in Varsovia. She also had a sister called Eve Curie which obviously became a scientist like her as well.

She had three children: Irene Joliot Curie, Frederic Joliot Curie and Pierre Joliot Curie. She married Pierre Joliot, who also got a nobel prize. Pierre’s sister was called Helene Langevin Joliot.

Life

She faced a lot of challenges in her life, including her Mom and her sister dying. In her early life, she was very lonely. Marie Curie neglected food and sleep for study! I know, OMG! Only Marie Curie would do that. At school, she only received general education but she yearned for more, desired for more, wished for more and she didn’t get anything.

When she was 24 she moved from Poland to France because she couldn’t study in her country.

Fun Facts 

1. When she discovered Polonium, she put a piece in her pocket and just walked away like nothing.
2. When she died, it took the French 4 years to stop selling  radioactive materials in commercials.
3. To go and see the radioactive diaries of Marie Curie, you need to sign a document and put an anti-radioactive suit on to make sure .
4. Marie Curie’s diaries are kept in a protected national library.
5. The building where Marie Curie worked in Paris is temporarily closed even though it has already been cleaned 4 times.
6. She discovered the elements in 1898.
7. In 1898 and 1902 she published 32 scientific articles.

New elements

Marie Curie discovered two new elements: Radium and Polonium. Polonium was called this because Marie Curie lived in Poland, so she called it that. Both elements are very radioactive but are also very helpful. Polonium helps us to build space rovers, we build them out of Polonium because just 1 gram of Polonium will reach a temperature of 500°C for the radiation emitted! Which is good  because Mars is cold, but the bad thing about Polonium is that it killed her. Apparently, Radium was used to make medicines which killed cancer cells. It was also used to make clocks, nuclear panels and aircraft switches. Radium also made Marie Curie’s diaries radioactive, and they will continue for at least 1500 years!

Nobel prizes

For this discovery, they handed her 2 Nobel prizes. The first one was for her amazing investigations about radioactivity. The second one was for discovering Radium and Polonium.

I personally think she must have felt really proud and delighted because she is the only woman that has got 2 Nobel prizes.

From Hugo