When we look at Marie Curie’s life, we realize that she was the first and only one of an incredible series of events, a true pioneer who became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and be a professor at the University of Paris. she was the first woman buried on her own merits at the Pantheon in Paris and the only woman to win the Nobel Prize in various scientific disciplines.
Who says women can’t devote themselves to science?Marie Curie’s legacy is impressive and her name resonates in an endless list of men dedicated to science. Marie Curie is probably one of the best-known scientists in the world.
- His research in the field of radioactivity has paved the way for many more studies.
- In this article we will try.
- As far as possible.
- To approach one of the most important figures of the scientific landscape of the twentieth century.
Maria Sklodowska, who was her birth name, was born in Poland and was the youngest of five siblings. Both his father and mother were engaged in teaching; Mary, from a very young age, followed in her father’s footsteps and showed great interest in mathematics and physics.
Faced with the impossibility of enrolling in the University of Warsaw, then reserved for men at the time, he undertook several occasional work.
For the most part, Marie worked as a housekeeper to earn extra money that would help her sister’s education. In his free time, he continued to learn and even began his practical scientific training in the chemistry lab.
In 1891 she moved to France and enrolled at the Sorbonne University, it was there that she began to be known as Mary, and with little financial help she was forced to teach private lessons in the afternoon to earn money and survive.
In 1894 he visited Pierre Curie at the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry of the University of Paris. In 1895, Pierre and Marie married, leading to an extraordinary association in scientific work.
Marie Curie is the most famous physics and chemistry in history. In mid-1897, Curia’s achievements included two university degrees, a scholarship and a published article on the magnetization of tempered steel.
Curie had already acquired some prestige in the scientific and academic field with the birth of Irene, her first daughter, and from that moment Marie Curie turned her attention to the mysterious uranium radiation described by Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852-1908).
In 1904 Eve, their second daughter, was born. Thanks to your dedication and hard work, have you been able to discover and isolate?Two elements: polonium and radio.
She developed techniques that allowed her to isolate radioactive isotopes that could have made her a millionaire, but chose to share her knowledge for the good of humanity.
The importance of his discoveries was immense, breaking at its historical moment the orthodox notion that scientists had about matter and energy, and left us with a real legacy with a completely new line of thought.
The scientist realized that radiation was an atomic property and therefore had to be present in other elements, so Curie was not only responsible for the theorization of the concept of radioactivity, but also for the creation of the term radioactivity.
From 1898 to 1902, she and her husband published about 32 scientific articles, these articles revealed in detail their work on radioactivity. In one of these scientific articles, they reported that tumor cells are destroyed faster than healthy cells when exposed to radioactivity.
In addition to her scientific work, Marie Curie made a significant contribution during World War I, was responsible for the creation of the first radiological centers in the army. Curie’s research has proven crucial in the development of x-rays of patients requiring surgery. .
During World War I, Marie Curie helped equip ambulances with x-ray machines, which she accompanied on the front line. The International Red Cross has appointed him leader of its radiology department.
In this position, he was in charge of directing training courses for doctors in the application of these new techniques. It is estimated that more than a million wounded soldiers were treated with his X-ray machines.
Despite her success, Marie continued to face great opposition from male scientists in France and never received any significant economic benefit from her work. Inequality was the rule and it was of little use to be one of the brightest scientists of the time.
On the rainy afternoon of 19 April 1906, Pierre Curie was hit by a car and died instantly; two weeks later, the widow held the chair of physics at the Sorbonne, taking over from her late husband.
Tributes began to arrive from scientific societies around the world, but Curie was left alone with two young children and with the enormous task of leading radioactivity research. In 1908, she published her husband’s complete work and, in 1910, published her Treaty of Radioactivity.
Soon came the second Nobel Laureate of the Curia, although on this occasion he received an award in the field of chemistry, however, Curie was unable to receive approval from the Academy of Sciences, which again rejected membership.
In the late 1920s, her health began to deteriorate and Marie Curie eventually died on July 4, 1934 of leukemia, a disease caused by exposure to high-energy radiation from her research.
She was buried with Pierre Curie in Sceaux until, some six decades later, her remains were transported to the Pantheon of Paris. Curie’s eldest daughter Irene followed in her mother’s footsteps, dedicating her life to science and even receiving the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Marie Curie gave her life to research and scientific discovery. His life and vast repertoire of achievements have inspired scientists from all nations. In addition, her figure represents a milestone for all women, a major change in the scientific field that, unfortunately, still seems to be dominated by men today.