1、Madame Marie Curie,& The Science of Radioactivity,Early Life,Born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland Given name was Marya Sklodowska, but her family and friends called her “Little Manya”,Early Life cont.,Her father was a professor of math and physics Her mother was a pianist, singer, and teacher

2、Her mother died of tuberculosis when Marya was 11,Schooling,Graduated high school when she was 15 In 1891 she enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris as “Marie” and graduated in 1893,Pierre,She married Pierre Curie in July 1895,Thesis Work,She decided that her thesis for her doctorate would be on Henri Be

3、cquerels mysterious “x-rays” that are given off by uranium,Work with Uranium,Discovered that if you have a certain amount of uranium, then you get a certain amount of ray intensity, no matter what you did to the material,Uranium Continued,Marie discovered that there was something going on inside the

4、 atom that created the rays, she named this effect “radioactivity”,She discovered that the only known elements that were radioactive were uranium and thorium,Radioactivity,Polonium,Pierre stopped his work on crystals to work with Marie Marie continued her work, but with a different substance, pitchb

5、lende,Polonium Cont.,They called this new substance polonium in honor of Maries homeland,In July 1898 they extracted a new element that was even more radioactive than uranium,Radium,In January of 1899 another new element was discovered that was over 1 million times more radioactive than uranium, it

6、was named radium,Radium Continued,In 1910 Marie isolated pure radium metal,Her major studies showed that radium gave out light and heat, as well as being able to damage living flesh,Radium cont.,In order to obtain one decigram of pure radium chloride salt, Marie had to sift through hundreds of tons

7、of pitchblende,Properties of Radium,Radium is silver-white in color Today it is used in small amounts as a cancer treatment and in fluorescent paint,Pierres Death,Pierre Curie was killed tragically by a horse-drawn cart in 1906,Teaching,It was decided that Marie should take over Pierres teaching job

8、 at the Sorbonne in 1906,This made Marie the 1st woman professor at any French university,Paris Radium Institute,In 1907 Marie convinced the French government to fund a radium research institute, to be used mainly for medical research,Health Problems,Marie believed that working with radium was not a

9、 danger to her health, however, doctors today have proven that she was very wrong,Health cont.,In 1911 Marie collapsed from depression and severe kidney problems that were a result of her long-time exposure to radium,Radium Institute cont.,In August 1914 the Radium Institute was finished, and named

10、after Maries deceased husband,World War II,Shortly after the institute was finished, Germany invaded France Maries staff was cut short to two people, herself and her daughter Irene,World War II cont.,Immediately after the War broke out Marie donated all of her money to the War fund, and signed up to

11、 be a nurse,X-ray Mobiles,Marie decided that there should be x-ray machines that the war doctors could use on the battle field for soldiers,X-ray mobiles cont.,Marie created 20 mobile x-ray machines and over 200 stationary machines,Radon,Marie also invented tiny glass tubes that were filled with rad

12、on ( a radioactive gas),Radon cont.,Doctors would insert the tubes in patients at spots where the radiation would destroy diseased tissue,After the War,After the War ended in 1918 Marie spent a lot of time with her two daughters Irene and Eve,After the War cont.,After two or three years with her dau

13、ghters she resumed her work with radium at the Paris institute,Declining Health,Marie had been working at the radium institute in good health for almost 12 years,She began to notice burns on her hands and her failing eyesight somewhere around 1932,Late Life,Maries blood had been weakened by her cons

14、tant exposure to radium This caused her to catch aplastic anemia,Late Life cont.,Marie eventually contracted leukemia and died on July 14, 1934,Awards,Marie was awarded numerous small awards during her life such as having her picture placed on a stamp!,Awards cont.,Marie was awarded the Nobel prize

15、in physics in 1903 for her work with X-rays She was also awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1911 for her work with radium,About Me!,Hi!Im Claire! I like food-all kinds. And I like horses, chickens(yes a little odd I know), and talking! Im incredibly tall and I have red hair! I have two sisters

16、and one brother, they are all older than me. I especially like Chinese food and Mac n cheese.,Bibliography,“Marie Curie, Pierre Curie.” Scientists: The Lives and Works of 150 Scientists.1996 ed. Tames,Richard.Marie Curie.New York:Franklin Watts Inc.,1989. Stille,Darlene.Extraordinary Women Scientists. Chicago:Childrens Press,1995. Notable Women Scientists.Farmington Hills,MI:the