Used with permission from Z. Zwolski
Marie Curie:
Accomplishments
Used with permission from Z. Zwolski
Marie Curie was a woman known for her many firsts. For
example, she was the first to use the term radioactivity,
first woman to win a Nobel Prize for Physics, first female lecturer at the Sorbonne University in Paris just to name
a few.
Marie won an great second Nobel Prize(Chemistry)
for her discovery (with the help of Pierre and a friend) and
isolation of pure radium and radium components in 1898. She also
achieved results of world significance in particular for the
discovery of Polonium (which she named
in honor of Poland). Marie discovered that uranium
was to be found in other matter to add to her list of
accomplishments. She also obtained pure radium
in its metallic state. In June of 1903 she received her
Doctorate of Science. Also in that year she was awarded the Davy
Medal of the Royal Society and her first Nobel Prize for Physics.
By this time she had piled up fifteen gold medals, nineteen
degrees, and several other honors. After Pierre had passed away
in 1906, she was appointed to his vacant professorship at the
Sorbonne to become the first woman to teach there. In 1908 she
became the titular professor there.
During World War I, Marie devoted herself to the development
of the use of X-radiography (the
X-ray). She was one of the few that understood the need to
accumulate intense radioactive sources for treatment of sickness
and to keep a large supply for research in nuclear physics.
Marie was one of the people in charge of the building of the
new labs and Radium Institute at Sorbonne. In 1914 this was
completed. By 1918, it became a universal center for nuclear
physics and chemistry.
As you can tell she was a very busy woman and was proud to
devote and give up her life for science.
Works Cited:
"Curie, Marie (1867-1934)," Microsoft (R) 96
Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1995 Microsoft Corp.
"Marie Curie,"
http://www.france.diplomatie.fr/label_france/
ENGLISH/SCIENCES/CURIE/marie.html