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(1867/11/07 - 1934/07/04)

Física y química polaco-francesa

La primera mujer en recibir un premio Nobel y en recibir dos premios en diferentes disciplinas científicas (Física y Química)

Conocida por: Investigaciones sobre la radiactividad

Descubrimientos: Radio, Polonio

Distinciones: Premio Nobel de Física (1903), Premio Nobel de Química (1911)...

Padres: Wladyslaw Sklodowski, Bronislawa Boguska

Cónyuge: Pierre Curie (m. 1895-1906)

Hijos: Irène Joliot-Curie, Ève Curie

Nombre: Maria Salomea Sklodowska - Marie Sklodowska-Curie

Altura estimada: 1,53 m

Marie Curie nació el 7 de noviembre de 1867 en Varsovia,Polonia.

Familia
Fue la última de los cinco hijos de los maestros Bronislawa Boguska, y Wladyslaw Sklodowski, que impartía clases de matemáticas y física.

Estudios
Cuando tenía diez años, empezó a asistir al internado de J. Sikorska y, posteriormente, se graduó con una medalla de oro en una escuela para niñas el 12 de junio de 1883.

Sufrió un colapso, posiblemente debido a una depresión, y pasó un año en el campo con parientes de su padre. Al año siguiente, se trasladó a Varsovia con su progenitor y tuvo que dar clases particulares, ya que no pudo inscribirse en una institución de educación superior debido a su género. Fue entonces cuando ingresó, junto con su hermana Bronislawa, en la Uniwersytet Latajacy, una institución clandestina que admitía estudiantes femeninas.

En 1891, partió hacia París, donde decidió cambiar su nombre por Marie. Al llegar, se matriculó en el curso de ciencias de la Universidad de la Sorbona. Después de dos años, finalizó sus estudios de física y se graduó como la número uno de su promoción. Además de sus estudios, compartió su tiempo aprendiendo y actuando en un teatro de aficionados.

Matrimonio con Pierre Curie
En 1894, Marie conoció a Pierre Curie, con quien trabajaba en el campo del magnetismo. Pierre, con 35 años, ya era una brillante promesa en la física francesa. Se enamoró rápidamente de Marie, una refinada y austera polaca de 27 años que compartía su devoción altruista por la ciencia. Después de que Pierre le propusiera matrimonio y la convenciera para vivir en París, se casaron el 26 de julio de 1895 en una ceremonia extremadamente sencilla, sin fiesta, alianzas o vestido blanco. La novia llevaba un traje azul corriente y, después de la boda partieron en bicicleta para iniciar su luna de miel por las carreteras de Francia.

Hijas
Marie y Pierre tuvieron dos hijas, una de ellas también ganadora de un Premio Nobel: Irène Joliot-Curie. Irène y su marido, Frédéric, recibieron el Premio Nobel de Química en 1935 por su descubrimiento de nuevos elementos radiactivos.

¿Qué descubrió Marie Curie?
Marie Curie se interesó por los nuevos descubrimientos de los diferentes tipos de radiación que estaban surgiendo en la época. En 1895, Wilhelm Roentgen descubrió los rayos X y en 1896, Antoine Henri Becquerel descubrió que el uranio emitía radiaciones invisibles similares. Debido a esto, comenzó a estudiar las radiaciones del uranio y utilizando las técnicas piezoeléctricas inventadas por su esposo Pierre, midió cuidadosamente las radiaciones en la pechblenda, un mineral que contiene uranio. Fue entonces cuando se dio cuenta de que las radiaciones del mineral eran más intensas que las del propio uranio y que debían existir elementos desconocidos, incluso más radiactivos.

Marie Curie fue la primera persona en utilizar el término " radiactivo" para describir estos elementos que emiten radiaciones al descomponerse los núcleos.

Pierre abandonó su trabajo sobre el magnetismo para unirse a la investigación de su esposa. En 1898, la pareja anunció el descubrimiento de dos nuevos elementos: el polonio (al que Marie le dio ese nombre en honor a su país de origen) y el radio. Durante los siguientes cuatro años, la pareja trabajó en condiciones muy precarias y trató una tonelada de pechblenda, de la cual aislaron una fracción de un gramo de radio.

La primera mujer Premio Nobel
En 1903, el matrimonio Curie y recibieron el Premio Nobel de Física por el descubrimiento de los elementos radiactivos. Sin embargo, la fama trajo consigo algunos problemas, especialmente para los Curies, quienes eran personas muy reservadas y dedicadas a la investigación científica. Su laboratorio fue asaltado por gente inoportuna, y su modesta residencia en París fue invadida por periodistas y fotógrafos. Además, tenían que lidiar con un correo cada vez más voluminoso, que ocupaba sus domingos. A pesar de todo, Marie Curie hizo historia al convertirse en la primera mujer en recibir un Premio Nobel.

"Me enseñaron que el camino del progreso no era rápido ni fácil".
Marie Curie
En 1904, Pierre Curie fue nombrado profesor de física en la Universidad de París y, al año siguiente, miembro de la Academia Francesa. Estos cargos eran inusualmente ocupados por mujeres, por lo que Marie no recibió el mismo reconocimiento. Sin embargo, la vida de la pareja cambiaría drásticamente el 19 de abril de 1906, cuando Pierre falleció trágicamente al ser atropellado por un carro de caballos mientras cruzaba la calle Dauphine. A partir de ese momento, Marie se encargó de sus clases y continuó con sus investigaciones en solitario.

Premio Nobel de Química
En 1911, Marie protagonizó un escándalo cuando estableció una relación con el físico Paul Langevin, que estaba casado. Parte de la prensa se lanza contra la "ladrona de maridos", "la extranjera". Este mismo año la otorgaron un segundo Nobel, el de Química, por sus investigaciones sobre el radio y sus compuestos. Fue nombrada directora del Instituto de Radio de París en 1914 y se fundó el Instituto Curie.

La Primera Guerra Mundial presentó nuevos desafíos para Curie, quien trabajó con sus hijas en el desarrollo los rayos X portátiles para su uso en el frente de guerra. Este trabajo le valió la Medalla de la Cruz Roja Francesa.

En mayo de 1921, gracias a la periodista estadounidense Mary Meloney, ella y sus hijas se trasladaron a los Estados Unidos, donde, gracias a fondos recaudados entre la comunidad polaca y a algún millonario estadounidense pudieron comprar un gramo de radio para el Instituto del Radio. Además, consiguió el dinero extra para equipo de laboratorio.

En 1911, Marie Curie fue objeto de un escándalo cuando inició una relación con el físico Paul Langevin, quien estaba casado en ese momento. Parte de la prensa la calificó de "ladrona de maridos" y "extranjera". A pesar de la polémica, ese mismo año recibió su segundo Premio Nobel, el de Química, por sus investigaciones sobre el radio y sus compuestos.

Durante 1914, fue nombrada directora del Instituto de Radio de París y fundó el Instituto Curie.

En mayo de 1921, gracias a la periodista estadounidense Mary Meloney, ella y sus hijas se trasladaron a los Estados Unidos. Con fondos recaudados entre la comunidad polaca y algunos millonarios estadounidenses, pudieron comprar un gramo de radio para el Instituto de Radio. Además, consiguieron el dinero necesario para el equipo de laboratorio.

Muerte
Marie Curie padeció anemia perniciosa, la cual fue causada por su exposición prolongada a la radiación. A medida que la enfermedad avanzaba, perdió la vista y finalmente falleció el 4 de julio de 1934 en la Clínica Sancellemoz, cerca de Passy, en Alta Saboya, Francia.

Sus restos fueron sepultados junto a los de su marido en el cementerio de Sceaux, ubicado a pocos kilómetros al sur de París.

"Hay que perseverar y, sobre todo, tener confianza en uno mismo".
Marie Curie

Resumen

Física y química nacida en Polonia que descubrió la radiactividad y fue pionera en el estudio de los elementos radiactivos. Fue la primera mujer en ganar un Premio Nobel y la única en recibir dos de estos premios en diferentes campos.

Recapitulación

Marie Curie descubrió el radio y el polonio.

Fue la primera mujer en ganar un Premio Nobel.

Es la única persona que ha ganado el premio en Física y Química.

Curie se casó con Pierre Curie, un físico francés. La pareja tuvo dos hijas: Irene (nacida en 1897) y Eve (nacida en 1904).

Curie y su esposo realizaron una investigación pionera sobre la radiactividad.

Curie murió en 1934 de anemia aplásica, causada por la exposición a la radiación.

Sabías que...

Albert Einstein y Curie se conocieron en Bruselas en la Conferencia Solvay en 1911. Este evento reunió a los principales científicos del mundo en el campo de la física, y Curie fue la única mujer entre sus 24 miembros.

Premios más destacados

Premio Nobel de Física - 1903
Medalla Davy - 1903
Medalla Matteucci - 1904
Premio Nobel de Química - 1911

*buscabiografias.com

Artículo: Biografía de Marie CurieAutor: Víctor Moreno, María E. Ramírez, Cristian de la Oliva, Estrella Moreno y otrosWebsite: Buscabiografias.comURL: https://www.buscabiografias.com/biografia/verDetalle/1814/Marie%20CuriePublicación: 2002/11/08Última actualización: 2023/07/19

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Víctor Moreno, María E. Ramírez, Cristian de la Oliva, Estrella Moreno y otros

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(1867/11/07 - 1934/07/04) La primera mujer en recibir un premio Nobel y en recibir dos premios en diferentes disciplinas científicas (Física y Química) Conocida por: Investigaciones sobre la radiactividad Descubrimientos: Radio, Polonio Distinciones: Premio Nobel de Física (1903), Premio Nobel de Química (1911)... Padres: Wladyslaw Sklodowski, Bronislawa Boguska Cónyuge: Pierre Curie (m.

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What did Marie Curie accomplish?

Why was Marie Curie important?

Marie Curie, née Maria Salomea Skłodowska, (born November 7, 1867, Warsaw, Congress Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire-died July 4, 1934, near Sallanches, France), Polish-born French physicist, famous for her work on radioactivity and twice a winner of the Nobel Prize. With Henri Becquerel and her husband, Pierre Curie, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics. She was the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she is the only woman to win the award in two different fields.
(Read Marie Curie's 1926 Britannica essay on radium.)

Early life

From childhood she was remarkable for her prodigious memory, and at the age of 16 she won a gold medal on completion of her secondary education at the Russian lycée. Because her father, a teacher of mathematics and physics, lost his savings through bad investment, she had to take work as a teacher and, at the same time, took part clandestinely in the nationalist "free university," reading in Polish to women workers. At the age of 18 she took a post as governess, where she suffered an unhappy love affair. From her earnings she was able to finance her sister Bronisława's medical studies in Paris, with the understanding that Bronisława would in turn later help her to get an education.

Move to Paris, Pierre Curie, and first Nobel Prize

In 1891 Skłodowska went to Paris and, now using the name Marie, began to follow the lectures of Paul Appell, Gabriel Lippmann, and Edmond Bouty at the Sorbonne. There she met physicists who were already well known- Jean Perrin, Charles Maurain, and Aimé Cotton. Skłodowska worked far into the night in her student-quarters garret and virtually lived on bread and butter and tea. She came first in the licence of physical sciences in 1893. She began to work in Lippmann's research laboratory and in 1894 was placed second in the licence of mathematical sciences. It was in the spring of that year that she met Pierre Curie.

Their marriage (July 25, 1895) marked the start of a partnership that was soon to achieve results of world significance, in particular the discovery of polonium (so called by Marie in honour of her native land) in the summer of 1898 and that of radium a few months later. Following Henri Becquerel's discovery (1896) of a new phenomenon (which she later called "radioactivity"), Marie Curie, looking for a subject for a thesis, decided to find out if the property discovered in uranium was to be found in other matter. She discovered that this was true for thorium at the same time as G.C. Schmidt did.

Turning her attention to minerals, she found her interest drawn to pitchblende, a mineral whose activity, superior to that of pure uranium, could be explained only by the presence in the ore of small quantities of an unknown substance of very high activity. Pierre Curie then joined her in the work that she had undertaken to resolve this problem and that led to the discovery of the new elements, polonium and radium. While Pierre Curie devoted himself chiefly to the physical study of the new radiations, Marie Curie struggled to obtain pure radium in the metallic state-achieved with the help of the chemist André-Louis Debierne, one of Pierre Curie's pupils. On the results of this research, Marie Curie received her doctorate of science in June 1903 and, with Pierre, was awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal Society. Also in 1903 they shared with Becquerel the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of radioactivity.

The birth of her two daughters, Irène and Ève, in 1897 and 1904, did not interrupt Marie's intensive scientific work. She was appointed lecturer in physics at the École Normale Supérieure for girls in Sèvres (1900) and introduced there a method of teaching based on experimental demonstrations. In December 1904 she was appointed chief assistant in the laboratory directed by Pierre Curie.

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Marie Curie | Biography, Nobel Prize, Accomplishments, & Facts

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Marie Curie, Polish-born French physicist, famous for her work on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she is the only woman to win the award in two different fields (Physics, 1903; Chemistry, 1911). Learn more about Marie Curie in this article.

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Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, in Physics, and with her later win, in Chemistry, she became the first person to claim Nobel honors twice. Her efforts with her husband Pierre led to the discovery of polonium and radium, and she championed the development of X-rays.

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Marie Curie was a physicist, chemist and pioneer in the study of radiation. She discovered the elements polonium and radium with her husband, Pierre. They were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903, along with Henri Becquerel, and Marie received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. She worked extensively with radium throughout her lifetime, characterizing its various properties and investigating its therapeutic potential. However, her work with radioactive materials ultimately killed her and he died of a blood disease in 1934.

Marie Curie was born Marya (Manya) Salomee Sklodowska on Nov. 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland. The youngest of five children, she had three older sisters and a brother. Her parents - father, Wladislaw, and mother, Bronislava - were educators who ensured that their girls were educated as well as their son.

Curie's mother succumbed to tuberculosis in 1878. In Barbara Goldsmith's book "Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie," (W. W. Norton, 2005) she notes that Curie's mother's death had a profound impact on Curie, fueling a life-long battle with depression and shaping her views on religion. Curie would never again "believe in the benevolence of god," Goldsmith wrote.

In 1883, at the age of 15, Curie completed her secondary education, graduating first in her class. Curie and her older sister, Bronya, both wished to pursue a higher education, but the University of Warsaw did not accept women. To get the education they desired, they had to leave the country. At the age of 17, Curie became a governess to help pay for her sister's attendance at medical school in Paris. Curie continued studying on her own and eventually set off for Paris in November 1891.

When Curie registered at the Sorbonne in Paris, she signed her name as "Marie" to seem more French. Curie was a focused and diligent student, and was at the top of her class. In recognition of her talents, she was awarded the Alexandrovitch Scholarship for Polish students studying abroad. The scholarship helped Curie pay for the classes needed to complete her licentiateships, or degrees, in physics and mathematical sciences in 1894.

Meeting Pierre Curie

One of Curie's professors arranged a research grant for her to study the magnetic properties and chemical composition of steel. That research project put her in touch with Pierre Curie, who was also an accomplished researcher. The two were married in the summer of 1895.

Pierre studied the field of crystallography and discovered the piezoelectric effect, which is when electric charges are produced by squeezing, or applying mechanical stress to certain crystals. He also designed several instruments for measuring magnetic fields and electricity.

(Image credit: Bettman via Getty Images)

Radioactive Discoveries

Curie was intrigued by the reports of German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen's discovery of X-rays and by French physicist Henri Becquerel's report of similar "Becquerel rays" emitted by uranium salts. According to Goldsmith, Curie coated one of two metal plates with a thin layer of uranium salts. Then she measured the strength of the rays produced by the uranium using instruments designed by her husband. The instruments detected the faint electrical currents generated when the air between two metal plates was bombarded with uranium rays. She found that uranium compounds also emitted similar rays. In addition, the strength of the rays remained the same, regardless of whether the compounds were in solid or liquid state.

Curie continued to test more uranium compounds. She experimented with a uranium-rich ore called pitchblende and found that even with the uranium removed, pitchblende emitted rays that were stronger than those emitted by pure uranium. She suspected that this suggested the presence of an undiscovered element.

In March 1898, Curie documented her findings in a seminal paper, where she coined the term "radioactivity." Curie made two revolutionary observations in this paper, Goldsmith notes. Curie stated that measuring radioactivity would allow for the discovery of new elements. And, that radioactivity was a property of the atom.

The Curies worked together to examine loads of pitchblende. The couple devised new protocols for separating the pitchblende into its chemical components. Marie Curie often worked late into the night stirring huge cauldrons with an iron rod nearly as tall as she was.

The Curies found that two of the chemical components - one that was similar to bismuth and the other like barium - were radioactive. In July 1898, the Curies published their conclusion: the bismuth-like compound contained a previously undiscovered radioactive element, which they named polonium, after Marie Curie's native country, Poland. By the end of that year, they had isolated a second radioactive element, which they called radium, derived from "radius," the Latin word for rays. In 1902, the Curies announced their success in extracting purified radium.

In June 1903, Marie Curie was the first woman in France to defend her doctoral thesis. In November of that year the Curies, together with Henri Becquerel, were named winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics for their contributions to the understanding of "radiation phenomena." The nominating committee initially objected to including a woman as a Nobel laureate, but Pierre Curie insisted that the original research was his wife's.

In 1906, Pierre Curie died in a tragic accident when he stepped into the street at the same time as a horse-drawn wagon. Marie Curie subsequently filled his faculty position of professor of general physics in the faculty of sciences at the Sorbonne and was the first woman to serve in that role.

In 1911, Marie was awarded a second Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of the elements polonium and radium. In honor of the 100-year anniversary of her Nobel award, 2011 was declared the " International Year of Chemistry."

(Image credit: Photo by: Christophel Fine Art/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Later Years

As her research into radioactivity intensified, Curie's labs became inadequate. The Austrian government seized the opportunity to recruit Curie and offered to create a cutting edge lab for her, according to Goldsmith. Curie negotiated with the Pasteur Institute to build a radioactivity research lab. By July of 1914, the Radium Institute ("Institut du Radium," at the Pasteur Institute, now the Curie Institute) was almost complete. When World War I broke out in 1914, Curie suspended her research and organized a fleet of mobile X-ray machines for doctors on the front.

After the war, she worked hard to raise money for her Radium Institute. However,by 1920, she was suffering from health issues, most likely because of her exposure to radioactive materials. On July 4, 1934, Curie died of aplastic - a condition that occurs when the bone marrow fails to produce new blood cells. Curie's doctor concluded that her "bone marrow could not react probably because it had been injured by a long accumulation of radiations," according to historian Craig Nelson in his book "The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era" (Scribner, 2014).

Curie was buried next to her husband in Sceaux, a commune in southern Paris. But in 1995, their remains were moved and interred in the Pantheon in Paris alongside France's greatest citizens. The Curies received another honor in 1944 when the 96th element on the periodic table of elements was discovered and named "."

Additional Resources

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Marie Curie was a physicist and chemist and a pioneer in the study of radiation.

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M arie Curie, née Maria Sklodowska, was born in Warsaw on November 7, 1867, the daughter of a secondary-school teacher. She received a general education in local schools and some scientific training from her father. She became involved in a students' revolutionary organization and found it prudent to leave Warsaw, then in the part of Poland dominated by Russia, for Cracow, which at that time was under Austrian rule. In 1891, she went to Paris to continue her studies at the Sorbonne where she obtained Licenciateships in Physics and the Mathematical Sciences. She met Pierre Curie, Professor in the School of Physics in 1894 and in the following year they were married. She succeeded her husband as Head of the Physics Laboratory at the Sorbonne, gained her Doctor of Science degree in 1903, and following the tragic death of Pierre Curie in 1906, she took his place as Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences, the first time a woman had held this position. She was also appointed Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of Paris, founded in 1914.

Her early researches, together with her husband, were often performed under difficult conditions, laboratory arrangements were poor and both had to undertake much teaching to earn a livelihood. The discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel in 1896 inspired the Curies in their brilliant researches and analyses which led to the isolation of polonium, named after the country of Marie's birth, and radium. Mme. Curie developed methods for the separation of radium from radioactive residues in sufficient quantities to allow for its characterization and the careful study of its properties, therapeutic properties in particular.

Mme. Curie throughout her life actively promoted the use of radium to alleviate suffering and during World War I, assisted by her daughter, Irene, she personally devoted herself to this remedial work. She retained her enthusiasm for science throughout her life and did much to establish a radioactivity laboratory in her native city - in 1929 President Hoover of the United States presented her with a gift of $ 50,000, donated by American friends of science, to purchase radium for use in the laboratory in Warsaw.

Mme. Curie, quiet, dignified and unassuming, was held in high esteem and admiration by scientists throughout the world. She was a member of the Conseil du Physique Solvay from 1911 until her death and since 1922 she had been a member of the Committee of Intellectual Co-operation of the League of Nations. Her work is recorded in numerous papers in scientific journals and she is the author of Recherches sur les Substances Radioactives (1904), L'Isotopie et les Éléments Isotopes and the classic Traité' de Radioactivité (1910).

The importance of Mme. Curie's work is reflected in the numerous awards bestowed on her. She received many honorary science, medicine and law degrees and honorary memberships of learned societies throughout the world. Together with her husband, she was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, for their study into the spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of the Prize. In 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, in recognition of her work in radioactivity. She also received, jointly with her husband, the Davy Medal of the Royal Society in 1903 and, in 1921, President Harding of the United States, on behalf of the women of America, presented her with one gram of radium in recognition of her service to science.

For further details, cf. Biography of Pierre Curie. Mme. Curie died in Savoy, France, after a short illness, on July 4, 1934.

This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished inNobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.

To cite this section
MLA style: Marie Curie - Biographical. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. Wed. 9 Aug 2023. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/marie-curie/biographical/>

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The Nobel Prize in Physics 1903 was divided, one half awarded to Antoine Henri Becquerel "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity", the other half jointly to Pierre Curie and Marie Curie, née Sklodowska "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel"