Marie Curie: The First WomanNobel Laureate

By Mary Bagley

 

1 Marie Curie wasa physicist and chemist and a pioneer in the study of radiation. She and herhusband, Pierre, discovered the elements polonium and radium. Together, theywere awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, and she received another one,for Chemistry, in 1911. Her work with radioactive materials doomed her,however. She died of a blood disease in 1934.

 

Early Life

2 Maria SalomeaSklodowska was born in Warsaw, Poland, on Nov. 7, 1867. She was the youngest offive children, three older sisters and a brother. Both of her parents wereeducators and insisted that their girls be educated as well as their son. Mariagraduated from high school first in her class at the age of 15. Maria and herolder sister, Bronia, both wished to attend college but the University ofWarsaw did not accept women. They were both interested in scientific research;but to get the education they desired they would have to leave the country. Atthe age of 17, Maria became a governess to help pay for Bronia to attendmedical school in Paris. Maria continued to study on her own, looking forwardto joining her sister and getting her own degree.

 

3 When Mariaregistered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, she signed her name as “Marie” to seemmore French. She quickly realized her high school education and self-study hadnot prepared her for the Sorbonne. She had planned to live with Bronia, buttook a drafty garret apartment closer to the school so she would have more timeto study. To afford the rent, she often subsisted only on bread and tea. Herhealth suffered, but the hard work paid off. When it was time for the finalexaminations, she was first in her class. She earned her master’s degree inphysics in July 1893. Women’s education advocates gave her a scholarship tostay and take a second degree in mathematics, awarded in 1894.

 

Meeting Pierre Curie

4 One of Marie’sprofessors arranged a research grant for her to study the magnetic propertiesand chemical composition of steel. In arranging for lab space, she wasintroduced to a young man named Pierre Curie. Pierre was a brilliant researcherhimself and had invented several instruments for measuring magnetic fields andelectricity. He arranged a tiny space for her at the Municipal School ofIndustrial Physics and Chemistry where he worked. The two were married in thesummer of 1895.

 

5 Marie had beenintrigued by the reports of Wilhelm Roentgen’s discovery of X-rays and by HenriBecquerel’s report of similar “rays” emitted from uranium ores. She decided touse Pierre’s instruments to measure the faint electrical currents she detectedin air that had been bombarded with uranium rays. Her studies showed that theeffects of the rays were constant even when the uranium ore was treated indifferent ways. She confirmed Becquerel’s observation that greater amounts ofuranium in an ore resulted in more intense rays. Then she stated arevolutionary hypothesis; Marie believed that the emission of these rays was anatomic property of uranium. If true, this would mean that the accepted view ofthe atom as the smallest possible fragment of matter was false.

 

Radioactive

6 Marie nextdecided to test all of the known chemical ores to see if any others would emitBecquerel rays. In 1898, she coined the term “radioactive” to describematerials that had this effect. Pierre was so interested in her research thathe put his own work aside to help her. Together, they found that two ores,chalcolite and pitchblende, were much more radioactive than pure uranium. Mariesuspected that these ores might contain as yet undiscovered radioactiveelements.

 

7 Several tons ofpitchblende were donated by the Austrian government, but the space Marie wasusing for a lab was too small. The Curies moved their research to an old shedoutside of the school. Processing the ore was backbreaking work. New protocolsfor separating the pitchblende into its chemical components had to be devised.Marie often worked late into the night stirring huge cauldrons with an iron rodnearly as tall as her.

 

8 Little bylittle, various components of the ore were tested. The Curies found that two ofthe chemical components, one containing mostly bismuth and another containingmostly barium, were strongly radioactive. In July 1898, the Curies publishedtheir conclusion: the bismuth compound contained a previously undiscoveredradioactive element that they named polonium, after Marie’s native country,Poland. By the end of that year they had isolated a second radioactive elementthey called radium, from radius , the Latin word for rays. In 1902, theyannounced success in extracting purified radium.

 

9 In June 1903,Marie was the first woman in Europe to earn a doctorate in physics. In Novemberof that year the Curies, together with Henri Becquerel, were named winners ofthe Nobel Prize in Physics for their contributions to the understanding ofatomic structure. The nominating committee objected to including a woman as aNobel Laureate, but Pierre insisted that the original research was Marie’s. In1911, after Pierre’s death, Marie was awarded a second Nobel Prize in Chemistryfor her discovery of the elements polonium and radium.

 

Later Years

10 Marie continuedto do research in radioactivity. When World War I broke out in 1914, shesuspended her studies and organized a fleet of portable X-ray machines fordoctors on the front.

 

11 After the war,she worked hard to raise money for her Radium Institute, including a trip tothe United States. But by 1920, she was suffering from medical problems, likelydue to her exposure to radioactive materials. On July 4, 1934, she died ofaplastic anemia, a blood disease that is often caused by too much exposure toradiation.

 

12 Marie wasburied next to Pierre, but in 1995, their remains were moved and interred inthe Pantheon in Paris alongside France’s greatest citizens.

 

13 The Curiesreceived another honor in 1944 with the discovery of the 96th element on thePeriodic Table of the Elements, which was named curium.

 

玛丽·居里：首位女诺贝尔奖得主

玛丽·巴格利

1 玛丽·居里是物理学家、化学家和放射研究的先驱。她和丈夫皮埃尔发现了钋元素与镭元素。他们两人一起获得了1903年诺贝尔物理学奖，而她个人又于1911年获得诺贝尔化学奖。然而，她的工作是与放射材料打交道，这也使她受到致命的伤害。1934年，她被血液病夺去了生命。

早年生活

2 玛丽亚·沙洛美亚·斯克洛多夫斯卡于1867年11月7日出生于波兰华沙。她是一家五个孩子里最小的一个，上面有三个姐姐和一个哥哥。她的父母都是教育工作者，坚持让女儿们同儿子一样受教育。15岁时，玛丽亚以年级第一名的成绩高中毕业。她和姐姐波洛尼亚都想上大学，但华沙大学不招女生。她们俩都对科学研究感兴趣；但想要获得她们向往的教育就得离开祖国。17岁时，玛丽亚为了资助波洛尼亚去巴黎上医学院，当起了家庭女教师。工作之余，她坚持自学，期盼着到巴黎同姐姐会合并攻读学位。

3 玛丽亚在巴黎索邦大学注册时，用了“玛丽”这个签名，好让自己的名字更有法国味。她很快意识到之前高中和自学的底子太薄，在索邦大学上学很吃力。为此，她改变了跟波洛尼亚同住的打算，找了一个离学校更近的透风的阁楼公寓，这样就可以有更多的时间学习。为了支付房租，她常常只靠面包和茶水果腹。她的身体因而变差了，但刻苦学习见效了。期末考试时，她名列全班第一。1893年7月，她获得了物理学硕士学位。妇女教育倡导者向她提供了奖学金，好让她留下来继续攻读第二个学位。1894年，她获得了数学硕士学位。结识皮埃尔·居里

4 玛丽的一位教授为她安排了一笔研究经费，让她专攻钢的磁性和化学成分。在安排做实验的地方时，她被引见结识了一位名叫皮埃尔·居里的年轻人。皮埃尔本人也是一位杰出的研究人员，已经发明了几款测量磁场和电的仪器。他为她在自己工作的巴黎市立高等工业物理化学学院里安排了一个狭小的实验空间。两人于1895年夏季结婚。

5 在看到威廉·伦琴发现X射线和亨利·贝克勒尔发现铀矿石发出类似“射线”的报道后，玛丽很感兴趣。她决定用皮埃尔的仪器来测量她察觉到的被铀射线撞击的空气中的微弱电流。她的研究表明：即便用不同的方法来处理铀矿石，射线的强度总是一样的。她印证了贝克勒尔的观察报告，即矿石中的铀含量越高，射线就越强。接着，她提出了一个革命性的假设；玛丽相信，散发这些射线是铀的一种原子属性。如果这个假设成立，那么当时普遍接受的视原子为物质最小微粒的观点就是错误的。

放射性的

6 接着，玛丽决定测试所有的已知化学矿石，看看有没有其他矿石也发出贝克勒尔射线。1898年，她创造了“放射性的”这个新词，用来描述具有这一效应的材料。皮埃尔对她的研究非常感兴趣，于是放下自己的工作去协助她。两人一起发现了两种放射性强于纯铀的矿石，它们分别是铜铀云母和沥青铀矿石。玛丽怀疑这些矿石中可能含有尚未被发现的放射性元素。

7 奥地利政府捐赠了好几吨沥青铀矿石，但玛丽使用的实验室空间太小了。居里夫妇搬到学院外的一个旧棚屋里继续研究。加工矿石非常费力。他们必须重新设计将沥青铀矿石分解成化学成分的方法。玛丽经常工作到深夜，用一根几乎和她个子一样高的铁棍在巨大的坩埚里搅拌。

8 居里夫妇一点一点地测试了矿石中的各种成分。他们发现有两种化学成分的放射性特别强，一种主要含铋，另一种主要含钡。1898年7月，居里夫妇公开发表了他们的结论：铋化合物里含有一种之前未被发现的放射性元素。他们以玛丽的祖国波兰将之命名为钋（译者注：“钋”的英语说法polonium系由“波兰”的拉丁文Polonia +ium形成）。同年底，他们又分离出了第二种放射性元素，并将之命名为镭。“镭”一词来自拉丁语“radius”，意为“射线”。1902年，他们宣布提取纯镭成功。

9 1903年6月，玛丽成为第一位获得物理学博士学位的欧洲女性。同年11月，居里夫妇同亨利·贝克勒尔一起因为他们对原子结构的理解所作的贡献而荣获诺贝尔物理学奖。起初，提名委员会反对将诺贝尔奖颁发给女性，但皮埃尔坚持说原创性研究来自玛丽。1911年，在皮埃尔去世后，玛丽再度获得诺贝尔奖——因为发现了钋和镭两种化学元素她获得诺贝尔化学奖。

后来的岁月

10 玛丽继续从事放射性研究。1914年，第一次世界大战爆发。她中断了自己的研究，组织了一个载有手提式X光机的车队，支援前线的医生们。

11 一战结束后，她努力为自己的镭学研究院募集经费，还为此去了一次美国。然而，到了1920年，她的身体状况开始恶化，罪魁祸首很可能是放射材料的辐射。1934年7月4日，她因为再生障碍性贫血而去世。该血液病往往是受到过多的放射性辐射造成的。

12 玛丽落葬在皮埃尔身边。不过，1995年，他们的遗体被转移到巴黎先贤祠，同法国其他伟人长眠在一起。

13 1944年，居里夫妇再获殊荣：“化学元素周期表”上新增的第96号元素被命名为锔（译者注：curium由居里夫妇的姓氏Curie + ium构成）。