Curie, Madame Marie obsessive genius
husband-wife Pierre
daughter, son-in-law
Nobel Prize winners
physician-sister
http://www.simplescience.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48&Itemid=54
Marie may be considered as the most successful, human being that ever trudged the globe. For a scientist, chances of winning a Nobel Prize may be one in a million. Marie claimed two, sharing one with her husband and Henry Becquerel for physics in 1903 and another for chemistry in 1911. Her daughter Irene shared the Nobel Prize with her husband Joliot Frederick in 1935.
Bronya and Marie Sklodowska were two daughters of a rationalist physics teacher in Warsaw. Their mother was a Catholic pianist. They had the elementary education in a Russian school and lessons in Physics and Chemistry from her father. Although the two sisters excelled in studies, they were refused admission by the higher seats of learning in Poland due to the wrong Gender. The only alternative was to go to a French University which the family could ill afford.
The two sisters devised a simple plan to circumnavigate the problem. Marie would work as a governess and send money for her elder sister to study medicine. Once Bronya had completed the course she would spend for her younger sister. The plan worked beautifully. Bronya completed her studies and got married to a doctor of Polish origin and urged Marie to live with them in Paris.
She had been tutoring kids for a living, forgetting her books for six years and her age was 24. More over she had only a meager knowledge of French. Yet due to the urgent appeals of her sister and her own enthusiasm to learn physics and mathematics made her agree to the request of Bronya. But she decided to rent out an attic closer to Sorbonne, in order to save traveling time and to be free for her studies. She worked late into the night buried in the lecture notes often forgetting her food and rest. The monthly allowance she received from Bronya she used frugally. The cold was unbearable without proper heating. Yet she had a goal; to be a teacher in Warsaw.
Writing about the early Sorbonne life she says, "It was like a new world opened to me, the world of science, which I was at last permitted to know in all liberty," She had the good fortune of listening to the best mathematicians and physicists of the day. After two years of diligent study she graduated at the top of her batch in Physics and Mathematics.
Sorbonne offered her a teaching post; first lady to be on the tutorial staff there. A society for the Industrial research gave her a contract to study the magnetic properties of steel. This assignment introduced her to Pierre Curie
Pierre Curie was an Internationally acknowledged Physicist. He was the son of a medical practitioner born on 15/5/1859. After receiving the early education at home he obtained a Licenciateship in Physics and worked as a demonstrator in Physics. In 1882 he was placed in charge of all laboratories in Physics and Industrial Chemistry schools, where engineers were trained. In his early studies, along with his brother Jacques, he had discovered a very unusual phenomenon which came to be known as Piezoelectricity. It deals with the electrical charges developed when crystals are compressed in a particular way. Later, he turned his attention to magnetism. and showed that the magnetic properties of a given substance change at a certain temperature - this temperature is now known as the Curie point. Pierre was a lonely dreamer and an idealist who did not have any interest other than for crystals and magnets.
Marie entered Curie’s laboratory in spring 1894. Twenty seven year old pretty lassie must have been sufficiently crystalline and magnetic for the 35 year old confirmed bachelor to have noted her. Marie too admired his extraordinary skill and loved his company. As their relationship progressed, Pierre requested her to engage herself in scientific research instead of becoming a teacher in a remote school. Marie too encouraged him to write up about his research for a doctorate. Plans worked wonderfully. Pierre received the doctorate and became a Professor and Marie did not go to Poland.
The initial intellectual affinity between the two matured into deeper feelings, and they tied the knot , outside the church, in 1895. Using the money, Pierre’s father gave as the wedding present , they bought two bicycles. Their only relaxation after studies and work was cycling. Marie completed her project on steel and soon gave birth to their first daughter Irene in September 1897. Marie looked for a suitable project for her doctorate and Pierre’s father moved in to look after his grand child, Hitherto no woman in the entire world had attempted to get a doctorate.
The conversion of Cathode rays to X’rays by Rontgen , just two years ago, in 1895 was the discussion in all science circles. When the emission of rays from Uranium, without an apparent conversion was announced by Henry Becquerel the scientists were able to give only a polite listening. Marie decided to investigate this phenomenon. She had the advantage of using an intricate instrument to measure the intensity of rays devised by her husband and his brother.
Marie at the very outset confronted herself with a serious problem. She started the project methodically and investigated the emanations from each and every known element. She even coined the word RADIOACTIVITY for this phenomenon. The materials that give off rays in this manner, she named as RADIO ACTIVE MATERIALS. Other than Uranium, only other element that exhibited Radioactivity was Thorium. Then she started to investigate the metallic ores. As pitchblende was giving positive results she got particularly biased towards that. There only the problem cropped up.
Pitchblende is a metallic ore containing a high percentage of Uranium oxide. She found certain samples of Uranium ore were more radioactive than the pure Uranium extracted out of that. Could there be an explanation? On hearing this curious observation, Pierre decided to drop crystallography and magnetism and joined his wife to pursue the problem.
Before clearing the main problem they learned a lot about the strange phenomenon termed radiation. They are:
Radiation does not depend on external factors such as temperature or the intensity of light,
Radiation was always proportional to the Uranium atoms present in the sample independent of their chemical combinations. (Thus they realised that radiation is not a chemical property but a property of certain atoms)
These findings would have been ample for her to get a doctorate, but she did not stop there. Her aim probably not so much the qualification but understanding and clearing the mystery surrounding these rays. In the light of the observations, it was quite logical to assume that pitchblende contained traces of a hitherto undiscovered element, which must be more powerful than Uranium. In 1898 Marie wrote, “The result of our experiment proved that there were in reality new radioactive elements in pitchblende, but that their proportion did not reach even a millionth per cent! “
Curies carried out this labour intensive project in an abandoned shed in their spare time. Marie has said, “I had to spend a whole day mixing a boiling mass with a heavy iron rod nearly as large as myself. I had to prepare our lunch in the shed, so as not to interrupt some particularly important operation. I would be broken with fatigue at the day’s end….The feeling of discouragement that sometimes came after some unsuccessful toil did not last long and gave way to renewed activity. We had happy moments devoted to a quiet discussion of our work, walking around our shed.” Many people would have ridiculed them if they were only aware of their struggle to find something unknown. After processing a few tons of ore they obtained a fairly concentrated solution of Uranium chloride. As they went on removing the Uranium salt, the remnants became more radioactive confirming their assumption that a new element must be concealed there.
Sometimes Marie and Pierre visited the work site at night, “One of our joys was to go into our workroom at night; we then perceived on all sides the feebly luminous silhouettes of the bottles or capsules containing our products. It was really a lovely sight and one always new to us. The glowing tubes looked like faint, fairy lights.” On 20/4/1902 they identified the two elements responsible for the luminosity. The first one they named as Polonium and the other Radium.
The curies extracted only one decigram of almost pure Radium chloride. Although they had identified the element using the emanating rays Marie subsequently obtained even the atomic mass unit as 225. Yet some scientists had some doubts about their claims. Curies did not have sufficient material to be distributed among them for the verification of their findings. But all opponents were silenced when her doctoral thesis was highly acclaimed by a board consisting of three of the most distinguished scientists in France, two of whom were to receive the Nobel prize later. The comment of the panel was, “the greatest scientific contribution ever made in a doctoral thesis”.
It was 1903 that Marie obtained her Doctorate. Paul Langevin, their colleague and friend organized a party in honour of Marie. The guests included Ernest Rutherford too who happened to be in Paris. If not for the strongly radioactive preparation sent by the Curies he would not have been able to unravel the mystery of the atomic nucleus. When the guests were seated in the garden Pierre took a small tube from his pocket. It was partly coated with zinc sulphide and contained a dilute solution of Radium chloride. The crowd stared in wonder at the spectacle of illuminating the surrounding without a chemical reaction. Somehow Rutherford had noted from the glow that Pierre’s fingers were scarred and they were trembling.
Just a few days before at a lecture in London Pierre had suggested how Radium could be used to cure cancer. He had shown a burnt mark in his hand as proof of the ability of Radium to kill growing cells. They evidently had no idea that radiation was gradually poisoning them. Pierre often carried a sample in his pocket while Marie kept a little radium salt by her bed that shone in the darkness.
Soon the Industrialists came to their assistance. Especially when they realised the medical applications of radioactivity they provided the support staff and the facilities to extract the new elements. Marie had written,” It may be easily understood how deeply I appreciated the privilege of realizing that our discovery had become a benefit to mankind, not only through its great scientific importance, but also by its power of efficient action against human suffering and terrible disease. This was indeed a splendid reward for our years of hard toil”
Marie and Pierre were awarded half the prize money of the 1903 Physics Nobel prize while the other half was given to Henri Becquerel. [Recent studies into the Nobel Committee archives have shown that only Becquerels and Pierre’s names have been recommended by the French Scientists. As a reply to a letter from Stockholm Pierre had said, "If it is true that one is seriously thinking about me (for the Prize), I very much wish to be considered together with Madame Curie with respect to our research on radioactive bodies." The final comment of the Nobel committee was "Nobel prize in physics is awarded in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel". Marie was the first female to receive the Nobel Prize.
In life joys and sorrowful moments alternate. Her sister that provided for her education had died. Her husband Pierre, in 1906, on his way to the library, fell down on the road and a horse drawn carriage ran over his head. Marie who was left alone with her two daughters Irene 9 and Eva 2 reflects, “The death of my husband, …….., was felt by the public, ..to be a national misfortune. It was largely under the influence of this emotion that the Faculty of Sciences of Paris decided to offer me the chair, as professor, which my husband had occupied. …….as up to then no woman had held such a position. ... The honor that now came to me was deeply painful under the cruel circumstances of its coming”.
When in 1910 Madame Curie was nominated for election to l'Académie des Sciences. she and the scientists around her thought it would be a straight forward affair. The election took place in a tumultuous atmosphere. In the first round Marie lost by one vote, in the second by two. “It was said that in her career, Pierre's research had given her a free ride. She came from Poland, though admittedly she was formally a Catholic but her name Sklodowska indicated that she might be of Jewish origin, and so on.” It became clear that, in spite of her popularity and exceptional brilliance a lot of ultra nationalist, anti semitic and anti -science attitudes have prevailed.
It was not the end of misery but the beginning. Soon the press started a campaign to cast doubt on her morals. Paul Langevin, a long standing family friend and a colleague of hers had had marital problems for some time. One news paper directly accused Madame Curie for the situation. The same News papers that applauded the first Nobel Prize in 1903 for Physics in Bold Capitols restricted the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry announcement to an inside page.
Papers and a part of the public kept on saying, “Marie as an alien, a polish woman, a researcher escalated by our scientists who had stolen an honest French Woman’s husband. The words that sent Lavoisier to the guillotine were quoted: “"The Republic does not need any scientists. "Marie’s friends backed her up. Raymond Poincaré, a senior lawyer who was to become President of France in a few years time, was engaged as advisor. but the slanderous campaign snow balled. A paper head line screamed, "Can Madame Curie still remain a professor at the Sorbonne?" Marie was confined to her home with the children, as a prisoner. Her friends feared that she would collapse. On 23 November papers published some letters supposed to have been written by Marie to Langevin. There was no proof of the accusations or about the authenticity of letters. but the protesters were furious.
According to Marguerite Borel , when they visited her there was an angry crowd outside her home. They shouted, “ Go home to Poland” A stone hit the house. Emil Borel managed to get Marie and the children out and took them to his residence. Unfortunately his residence was owned by École Normale Supérieure. The Minister of Education informed Borel that , by keeping Madame Curie there would cast a shadow on Ecole Normale. So if he still insisted on keeping his degraded guests they would dismiss him. “ So be it then. I shall persist” was Borel’s answer. Margarette Borel had a battle with her father, Paul Appell , dean of the faculty at Sorbonne. He did not want Borels to get involved in this matter. He revealed that he was requesting Madame Curie to leave the country. "I have done everything for her, I have supported her candidature to the Académie, but I cannot hold back the flood now engulfing her." he said. Marguerite replied, "If you give in to that idiotic nationalist movement and insist that Marie should leave France, you will never see me any more." Appell threw a shoe at her to hit the door.
Langevin who had been repeatedly insulted, then felt forced to challenge Gustave Téry, the editor of the newspaper that printed the letters, to a duel. Fighting a duel was a usual way of obtaining satisfaction in France at that time
After the war Curie Radioactive Institute was opened without much help from the government. In the USA Radium was manufactured industrially, making use of the know how freely given to them by the Curies. As she could not afford to buy the stuff with funds available she had to do a lot of fund raising. Although Marie refused to meet everybody who wanted to interview her, she consented to meet one who had admired Mary for a long time. She was the female journalist Missy Maloney. When it was disclosed that the Radium Institute in Paris had only a wee bit more than one gram while USA had more than 50 grams Missy said, “My! Somebody should provide the stuff for you to continue research ?” “ But Who ? “ was Marie’s querry. "The women of America," exclaimed Missy.
Missy had a very strong character similar to that of Marie. She spear headed a gigantic fund raising campaign to buy radium for the Radium Institute. As the first step she met the editors of all the News papers and got their word not to publish anything detrimental to the campaign. She had the unbelievable courage to take possession of all documents pertaining to Langevin affair. Then she fed the media with Madam Curie’s incredible achievements. Marie became enormously popular and the fund swelled up. Marie who shunned publicity did not like to visit USA. Finally Missy requested the Vice Chancellor, Paul Appleton, to persuade Marie. Marie reluctantly agreed and received a gift of one gram of Radium from the President Warren Harding. “It will be of the greatest value for my Institute” wrote Marie.
France too , then probably feeling ashamed of their own behavior organized a gala performance at the Paris Opera. “An Ode to Madame Curie” was read in the presence of many prominent people. “After being dragged through the mud ten years before, she had become a modern Jeanne d'Arc”.
Marie Curie lived to see her daughter and the son in law becoming scientists of repute, but unfortunately she could not live to see them becomimg Nobel Laureates as she died on 4/7/1934. It may be interesting to know that Curies and the Langevins got matrimonially united in the third generation.
Last Updated ( Friday, 10 July 2009 )
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Madame Curie then received a letter signed by Svante Arrhenius, a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences asking her to cable back stating that she would not attend the award ceremony and to declare that she did not want to accept the Prize until the Langevin court case had shown that she was not guilty. She promptly replied that the prize had been awarded for the discovery of Polonium and Radium and slander concerning her private life should not mar the appreciation of the discovery. Langevin also wrote a long letter to Arrhenius explaing what was behind the smear campaign.
Marie delivered her Nobel Lecture undeterred on December 11th expounding Radioactivity and her research. She declared that she regarded this award too as a tribute to Pierre Curie. The events had drained off her strength so much that she had to be hospitalized on 29th of December. After recovery she traveled to England and stayed with a friend there for a year for recuperation. Langevin and his wife reached a settlement. Marie's name was not dragged in. Paul Langevin's son, André Langevin wrote in 1971, "Is it not rather natural that friendship and mutual admiration several years after Pierre's death could develop step by step into a passion and a relationship?"
When the first world war commenced in 1914 Marie sent Irene, 17 and Eve 10 to Brittany. She left Paris carrying her treasure of Radium sealed in a 20 kg lead container. Ar Bordeaux she slept in the station with her luggage by the bed side. Next day she left the bag in a bank vault and took the next train back to Paris. During the war she laboriously worked to equip mobile X ray units. She trained young women to use X rays to detect metal splinters in the flesh. Irene 19 was also among them. All of them got paid by massive doses of radiation.
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Their elder daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935 for discovering that aluminum could be made radioactive and emit neutrons when bombarded with alpha rays. Their younger daughter, Ève Curie, later wrote a biography of her mother.
Maria Skłodowska was born in Warsaw, Poland, on 7 November 1867, the fifth and youngest child of well-known teachers Bronisława and Władysław Skłodowski. Maria's older siblings were Zofia (born 1862), Józef (1863), Bronisława (1865) and Helena (1866).
Maria's paternal grandfather Józef Skłodowski had been a respected teacher in Lublin, where he taught the young Bolesław Prus.[5] Her father Władysław Skłodowski taught mathematics and physics, subjects that Maria was to pursue, and was also director of two Warsaw gymnasia for boys, in addition to lodging boys in the family home. Maria's mother Bronisława operated a prestigious Warsaw boarding school for girls; she suffered from tuberculosis and died when Maria was twelve.
The year 2011 has been declared the Year of Marie Curie by France and Poland. "Madame Curie," which fills the Jacobs gallery at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s downtown space, is an artistic installation celebrating the scientist