Marie og pierre curie biography

Polish-French physicist and chemist (1867–1934)

This article is about the Polish-French physicist. For the musician, see Marie Currie. For other uses, see Marie Curie (disambiguation).

Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (Polish:[ˈmarjasalɔˈmɛaskwɔˈdɔfskakʲiˈri]; née Skłodowska; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie (KURE-ee;French:[maʁikyʁi]), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Her husband, Pierre Curie, was a co-winner of her first Nobel Prize, making them the first married couple to win the Nobel Prize and launching the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. She was, in 1906, the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris.

She was born in Warsaw, in what was then the Kingdom of Poland, part of the Russian Empire. She studied at Warsaw's clandestine Flying University and began her practical scientific training in Warsaw. In 1891, aged 24, she followed her elder sister Bronisława to study in Paris, where she earned her higher degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work. In 1895, she married the French physicist Pierre Curie, and she shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with him and with the physicist Henri Becquerel for their pioneering work developing the theory of "radioactivity"—a term she coined. In 1906, Pierre Curie died in a Paris street accident. Marie won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of the elements polonium and radium, using techniques she invented for isolating radioactive isotopes. Under her direction, the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms by the use of radioactive isotopes. She founded the Curie Insti

(1859-1906)

Who Was Pierre Curie?

French physicist Pierre Curie was one of the founding fathers of modern physics and is best known for being a pioneer in radioactive studies. He and his wife, Marie Curie, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903, and the curie, a unit of radioactivity, was named after him. Curie died in 1906 after being run over by a horse-drawn carriage in Paris.

Early Life and Education

Pierre Curie was born in Paris, France, on May 15, 1859. His father, a physician, trained him in math and science from a young age. Curie then entered the Faculty of Sciences at the Sorbonne, where he earned his degree in 1878. Lacking the money to continue on in school, Curie worked as a laboratory instructor until he was able to return to his research. In 1895, he obtained his graduate degree and was appointed professor of physics. He married a fellow scientist, Maria Skłodowska, the same year. She became known as Marie Curie after their marriage.

Research

Curie’s two main scientific partners throughout his career were his wife, Marie, and his brother, Jacques. Together with Jacques, Curie explored crystallography, through which he discovered piezoelectric effects. Curie showed that the magnetic properties of a given substance change at a specific temperature — a level now known as the Curie point.

Curie conducted his studies of radioactive substances with his wife, and the pair overcame the challenges posed by inadequate lab equipment and heavy teaching schedules to succeed in isolating the elements of radium and polonium (Marie Curie named polonium after her native country, Poland). The Curies went on to describe many of the novel properties of radium, which would form the basis of subsequent research in the fields of nuclear physics and chemistry.

Awards

Pierre and Marie Curie were awarded half of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on radiation. The other half of the prize went to Henri Becquerel, whose work had inform

French chemist and physicist (1859–1906)

Pierre Curie (KURE-ee;French:[pjɛʁkyʁi]; 15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French chemist, physicist and a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity and radioactivity. He shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Curie, and Henri Becquerel "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel". With their win, the Curies became the first married couple to win the Nobel Prize, launching the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes.

Early life

Born in Paris on 15 May 1859, Pierre Curie was the son of Eugène Curie (1827–1910), a doctor of French Huguenot Protestant origin from Alsace, and Sophie-Claire Curie (née Depouilly; 1832–1897). He was educated by his father and in his early teens showed a strong aptitude for mathematics and geometry. When he was 16, he earned his Bachelor of Science in mathematics. By the age of 18, he earned his license in physical sciences from the Faculty of Sciences at the Sorbonne, also known as the University of Paris. He did not proceed immediately to a doctorate due to lack of money. Instead, he worked as a laboratory instructor. When Pierre Curie was preparing for his Bachelor of Science degree, he worked in the laboratory of Jean-Gustave Bourbouze in the Faculty of Science. In 1895, he went on to receive his doctorate at the University of Paris. The submission material for his doctorate consisted of his research over magnetism. After obtaining his doctorate, he became professor of physics and in 1900, he became professor in the faculty of sciences.

In 1880, Pierre and his older brother Paul-Jacques (1856–1941) demonstrated that an electric potent