Marie Curie E-Book

50MINUTES

• Herausgeber: 50Minutes.com
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Serie: History
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 38

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Keen to learn but short on time? Get to grips with the life and career of Marie Curie in next to no time with this concise guide.
50Minutes.com provides a clear and engaging analysis of the life and work of Marie Curie, whose pioneering work on radioactivity revolutionised our understanding of the nature of matter and paved the way for innovative new treatments of cancer and various other illnesses. With Nobel Prizes in physics (1903) and chemistry (1911), Curie overcame both sexism in the overwhelmingly male scientific world and xenophobia after moving to France from her native Poland to carve out a place for herself at the forefront of scientific research. Her tenacity, intellectual brilliance and determination to use her discoveries to develop new medical treatments through the Radium Institute make her a role model for individuals of all nationalities, genders and walks of life.

In just 50 minutes you will:
• Learn about Curie’s groundbreaking work on radioactivity and its applications
• Gain an understanding of the historical, social and scientific context in which she was working
• Discover her incredible legacy as both a pioneering scientist and a woman in a male-dominated field

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Leseprobe

MARIE CURIE

KEY INFORMATION

Born: 7 November 1867 in Warsaw, Congress Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire (modern-day Poland).Died: 4 July 1934 in Passy, Haute-Savoie, France.Main achievements:The discovery of radium and polonium (alongside her husband Pierre Curie, 1898).Pioneering work on radioactivity, which she was the first person to define.Impact:The development of innovative cancer treatments.Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911.

INTRODUCTION

Marie Curie broke new ground in scientific research in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: her work on radioactivity disproved the centuries-old belief that matter is indivisible and unchangeable, and her discovery of the radioactive elements radium and polonium paved the way for revolutionary new medical treatments.

Curie was fiercely ambitious and left her native Poland to study in France, where she lived in extreme poverty and had to make her way in a misogynistic, virtually impenetrable scientific world which rarely accepted women or gave their work the credit it deserved. However, her innate stubbornness and the challenges she weathered throughout her life gave her an extraordinary strength of character which allowed her to overcome these obstacles.

Pierre Curie (1859-1906) became her partner in life and work, and they experienced both great success and major challenges together. In addition to her international renown as a scientist, Curie has been held up as a pioneering feminist figure and a modern mother who was far ahead of her time, courageously returning to the laboratory shortly after giving birth to her two children. She fought for her ideals her entire life, and was responsible for significant advances not only in the field of medicine, but also in popular perceptions of women and their capabilities.

BIOGRAPHY

Photograph of Marie Curie, c. 1903.

A HAPPY BUT TURBULENT CHILDHOOD

Marie Curie was born Maria Salomea Skłodowska in Warsaw on 7 November 1867, the youngest of five siblings. Her father Władysław Skłodowski (1832-1902) was a mathematics and physics teacher with a particularly keen interest in physics, and her mother Bronisława Skłodowska (died in 1878) also worked as a teacher before contracting tuberculosis. Her parents were loving but struggled to show it: her mother concealed her illness from her children and avoided physical contact with them as much as possible.

Maria was a precocious child: by the age of four, she could read perfectly, but her parents tried to hide more challenging books from her to preserve her innocence and prevent any harmful effects on her developing brain. She was irresistibly drawn to her father’s test tubes and physics equipment, which were kept in a glass case in the family’s living room, and would often sit and contemplate them.

In the space of just two years, Maria’s mother died of tuberculosis and her sister Zofia died of typhus. She coped with her loss by throwing herself into her studies at the Flying University, a clandestine educational institution in Warsaw, where she focused in particular on mathematics.

EARLY ACADEMIC PROMISE

Later on, Maria worked as a governess for a family of wealthy farm owners while also secretly teaching a class of students in the countryside. She made a pact with her elder sister Bronisława; Bronisława would go to study in Paris while Maria and her father would work to support her, and later on Maria would join her in the French capital and embark on her own studies while Bronisława worked to support her. Consequently, Maria worked as a governess for three years, before returning to Warsaw to teach.

By 1891, Maria found her situation unbearable and left for Paris, where she assumed the French version of her first name, Marie, and enrolled in the science faculty at the Sorbonne. She was behind many of the other students and had to work hard to fill in the gaps in her knowledge. She moved in with Bronisława, who was now a gynaecologist, and her new husband Kazimierz Dłuski, a doctor, on the Rue d’Allemagne, but soon found this living situation suffocating as the couple both regularly received patients in their apartment. Marie subsequently moved into a sixth-floor maid’s room without heating, electricity or running water; however, it was quiet and much closer to the university.