Marie Curie: And the Science of Radioactivity

Oxford Science Portraits

by Naomi Pasachoff

Marie Curie discovered radium and went on to lead the scientific community in studying the theory behind and the uses of radioactivity. She left a vast legacy to future scientists through her research, her teaching, and her contributions to the welfare of humankind. She was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, yet upon her death in 1934, Albert Einstein was moved to say, "Marie Curie is, of all celebrated beings, the only one whom fame has not corrupted." She was a physicist, a wife and mother, and a groundbreaking professional woman. This biography is an inspirational and exciting story of scientific discovery and personal commitment.

Oxford Portraits in Science is an on-going series of scientific biographies for young adults. Written by top scholars and writers, each biography examines the personality of its subject as well as the thought process leading to his or her discoveries. These illustrated biographies combine accessible technical information with compelling personal stories to portray the scientists whose work has shaped our understanding of the natural world.

Genres: Biography, Science, History, History Of Science, Nonfiction

109 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 1996

Reviews

[Inesh Gogineni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maria Skłodowska, soon to be known as Marie Curie, was born in Warsaw, a part of Poland controlled by Russia at that time, on November 7, 1867. Her childhood was not a good one. Her mother died of tuberculosis at the age of 42 when Marie was 10. Her dad lost the family savings in a bad investment and always blamed himself for it. It was not until Marie’s 20s, she decided that she would become a scientist. As women were not allowed a formal education at the time, she attended an illegal school at night. Soon, Marie and her sister decided that Marie would help her sister, Bronya, Pat for her schooling and Bronya would repay Marie as soon as she could. So, when Marie was 17, she worked as a tutor, and at a beet sugar factory. In 1891, after Bronya had married in Paris, Marie was to travel to Paris to further her education. Marie lived through hunger and cold nights while she was studying. In 1893, Marie earned a master’s degree in physics, and one year later, she earned another in math. Marie Skłodowski met Pierre Curie in the spring of 1894. Pierre and Marie were married in 1895. Pierre had made some scientific discoveries before have had married Marie as well. He worked with his brother, Jacque, to create a special type of electrometer designed to measure small electrice currents. Pierre earned his much deserved, and belated doctorate in March 1895. Marie passed a qualification test to tech science in 1896. She worked with Pierre at The School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry. In 1897, their first daughter, Irène, was born. Marie was given a small, unused lab at the university, and she was researching the proportion of radioactive rays to the amount of uranium present. Marie found that two minerals found in uranium, uranium oxide and copper uranyl phosphate, then known only as pitchblende and chalcocite, were more radioactive than uranium itself. She wanted to isolate the element inside these minerals that made them so active. Using the electrometer that Pierre and his brother had invented previously, she found that the radioactivity was contained in barium and bismuth. They reasoned that there must be two unknown elements in these compounds. They named them polonium and radium. Marie wanted more. She wanted to prove to the scientific community that these elements existed. She wanted the isolate them element from the compound in it’s pure form. She needed a bigger lab. In 1902, Marie successfully isolated on tenth of a gram of radium chloride, and she determined the new element’s weight. During their research, Marie and Pierre both showed severe signs of harm from the radioactive material, but Marie failed to relate the physical decline to the experiments. Later in 1902, Marie father died after a gallbladder surgery. People started to publicize Marie and Pierre’s discovery of radium and the effect it had on living tissue as a miracle cure. In 1903, the Curies were awarded novel prizes for their work on radioactivity. In 1903, their second daughter, Eve was born. In 1906, when Pierre and Marie were working on using radium to be used as a of medical aid, on the way to work, Pierre was hit by a horse drawn cart and died. Marie was crippled with sadness, but not for long. The Sunday after Pierre’s death, she went back to her lab to further what they had started. Not a month after Pierre’s death, the University of Paris offered Pierre’s post to Marie, which she accepted. In 1910, Pierre’s father, who had been living with the Curies up until then, died. That very year, it was decided that the official unit for measuring radioactivity would be the curie. In 1911, trouble arose for Marie. Rumors that she had an affair with another scientist at the university. People started falsely saying she was of Jewish ancestry, and that Pierre had committed suicide in a time of despair. In 1912, Marie fell badly sick, with kidney problems, and deep depression. In 1914, it was gone. World War 1 had just begun. Marie developed mobile radiology vehicles to be deployed on battlegrounds in WWI. She also found that radon, the gas spontaneously emitted by radium, could be dosed in syringes, to form scar tissue over wounds. Following the war, Marie work with many people, such as newspaper publishers and playwrights to publicize her research and try to earn funding. In 1934, Marie’s own daughter and her husband discovered that artificial radioactive isotopes could be created, meaning that it would cost less, and take less time to work with them. Marie Curie died less than six months after. In 1935, Albert Einstein published “Marie Curie in Memoriam”, he said, “Marie Curie is, of all celebrated beings, the only one whom fame has not corrupted.”
I think this book was a good informative read. It was interesting, for a biography, because it is pretty hard to make telling the story of someone’s life interesting. This book did good in making it not completely boring. It also did a really detailed job of explaining the science behind Marie and Pierre’s studies, as opposed to other sources that tell you what they did, but not what that does today and how it affects us in our day to day lives. It really related the information in the book to things that we can see and use today, which made the book a lot easier to understand. The book was fairly easy to comprehend, but it could have been more organized. I liked and disliked that they included random two to three page mini biographies on other scientists whose discoveries influenced Marie in some way. This helped me understand some of the technical things in the book, but they were sporadic, and cut off the main story so that you had to go back and figure out where they left off before the excerpt. I think that Marie Curie was a woman who was very devoted. Devoted to what she wanted to do, and to helping the world. Think about everything she put herself through for her studies on radioactivity. She went through college, where she went hungry commonly, had to bear the intense cold, and she kept herself from being social because it could affect her studies. When her husband died, she went back to work the same week. She had a kidney stone, but didn’t get it removed, or even take time off work. She and her husband constantly went through pain, humiliation, and being ignored, but they continued to further their research and help the world. The only complaint I have about this book is that it goes to far in depth about some things that are not important. An example of this would be the affair between Marie and Paul Langevin. It takes two pages just to talk about that, and even later, it continues to bring it up. I would have liked some more details about Marie Curie’s death, like whether or not her death was directly caused by the radiation, and what happened publicly after her death. I also would have liked the book to explain the effects of Marie’s “Petite Maries” and radon shots in World War One. Before reading this book, I had a very limited perspective about scientific discoveries, especially ones that direct affect our modern everyday lifestyle. Before this, I never would have thought that the things we take for granted today were painstakingly and carefully designed in Russia during World War One. I knew about Marie Curie, but before her, were so many other scientists that all were essential in the many breakthroughs that Marie Curie and Pierre Curie made in their lifetimes. So, to summarize, overall, the book was great. It really informed me of Marie Curie’s life, and it didn’t just inform me, it gave me a good understanding of Marie Curie’s life and her studies. You can get facts from any source, but this book actually guarantees that you understand, and remember them. Albert Einstein was right. Say whatever you want, but nothing you say or do will diminish the great accomplishments that Marie Curie made.

[Serra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marie Curie ve hayatına dair birçok şey öğrendim. Kitapta hoşuma gitmeyen tek nokta, bir kadının bilim dünyasında yaşadığı zorlukları anlatırken kadın çevirmenin inatla "bilim adamı" terimini kullanması oldu. Doğrusu "bilim insanı" olmalı.

[Ruwaida · Rating 3 out of 5]

ليس بالسهل تقييم هذا الكتاب، قرأته مترجم للغة العربيه،
لم تكن الأحداث وتسلسلاتها مرتبه بشكل جيد، ولم تكن الترجمة جيدة.

ولكن سيرة ماري كوري بعينها آسرة موجعة عشت معها لحظاتها ولا تزال صفحتها تقلبها ذاكرتي بعد الانتهاء منه، آمل ان اجد مذكرتها الخاصه منشوره .

[Karen McDowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book for my son and ended up reading it myself. It was fascinating to learn about the life of this remarkable woman. I hadn't realized that she was the first woman to receive 2 Nobel prizes and her own daughter also received a Nobel prize. Marie was also the first woman to receive a doctorate degree in her adopted country of France.

[Moran Danieli-Cohen]

Marie Curie: And the Science of Radioactivity is a fascinating read about the life and work of one of the most prominent female scientists in history. The book covers Marie Curie's journey as she stumbled upon the phenomenon of radioactivity by accident while conducting research on the properties of various minerals. The author delves into the details of Curie's experimentation and the methods she used to uncover the secrets of radioactivity.

One of the most impressive aspects of the book is the way it illustrates the tireless work Curie put in to generate a radioactive material with mass. The author describes the extensive experimentation and dedication that went into Curie's discovery of radium and polonium, including the long hours she spent in her lab and the difficulties she faced in obtaining funding for her research. The book also highlights the impact of Curie's work on the scientific community, as well as the challenges she faced as a woman in a male-dominated field.

Overall, Marie Curie: And the Science of Radioactivity is a well-written and engaging read that provides a comprehensive look at the life and work of one of the most influential scientists of all time. The author does a great job of bringing Curie's story to life and making it accessible to readers of all backgrounds. If you're interested in science, history, or the life of a trailblazer, this book is definitely worth checking out.

[HT · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the more interesting books I have read, and I feel that I have learned a lot about Marie Curie. She was one of the people that decided to choose her drive to study more about radium and do work, than to acknowledge her publicity. I thought that was really unique and cool, especially since she had ended up winning more than 1 Nobel prize. This book surprisingly never got boring for me, since I felt that I learned a big lesson to never give up on achieving your goal, just like Curie by continuing to work hard after her father's and husband's death. I would definitely recommend to use this book if your doing a project about Curie.

[Ruby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little book is a surprise for me. I started it in the hope to get to sleep, since science, biography and stuff... but it kept me more awake after two chapters...

Mme. Curie had a fascinating life, both professionally and personally. Her devotion to her work is admirable, and the bond she had with Pierre Curie is more romantic than most rom-com I’ve seen. Her achievements were even more exhilarating: first woman received Nobel prize, first individual received two Nobel prizes, first individual whose child received a Nobel prize.

And Einstein said this:

“Marie Curie is, of all celebrated being, the only one whom fame has not corrupted.”

[chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely good!!

I appreciated how the author took the time to summarize key information about chemistry. I learned a ton (10x more than my glazed-over brain did in high school) and was fascinated by it.

[Nagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief story of Curie family and Radioactivity.

[Onur Serbes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çok güzel yazılmış ve hazırlanmış, Curie'nin erkek egemen bilim dünyasındaki bütün dışlanma ve ayrımcılığa rağmen başardıklarını öyküsü.
Bilim tarihine meraklı olanlar için leziz bir çalışma.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the better biographies I've ever read. It had lots of information without being overly long, or dull. I learned tons of stuff I never knew. I read this book to fulfill the "read a biography of a scientist" requirement for the summer reading challenge, but I'd definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for an interesting read.

Note: For YEARS I was under the impression that Madame Curie, her husband, Pierre, and daughter all died of blood disorders relating to their exposure to radioactive elements. But Pierre Curie - died in a tragic traffic accident! Didn't see that one coming. I guess I needed to pay better attention in class.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The bio so far is concise, offering background information and describing Curie's life in a way that does not permit the audiences attention to stray.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written portrait of the life of Marie Curie for students. Worth the time to read and share.

[Zehra]

Bilim tarihine damga vurmuş en önemli insanlardan biri olan Marie Curie'nin hayatını bu kadar ayrıntılı okuyabildiğim bir kitap bulduğum için mutluyum. Daha önce, hakkında az çok bildiğim şeylerle bile hayranıyken, burada okuduğum ayrıntılardan sonra hayranlık kelimesi Marie Curie için olan hislerimi anlatmaya sanırım artık yetmeyecek.
Marie Curie'nin çocukluğunu, gençliğini, evlilik hayatını, bilim insanı olarak yaşadığı zorluklukları ve bilimsel çalışmalarını gayet akıcı bir dille anlatmış kitap. Kitap vesilesiyle gelin size hayran olduğum bu kadın hakkında bir kaç ilginç ve bir o kadar da güzel bilgi paylaşayım:

Bir insan düşünün ki; hayatının başından sonuna kadar maddi imkansızlıklar, savaşlar, ölümler, yıldırma çalışmaları, iftiralar, kadın olduğu için aşağılanmalar, önüne çıkarılan saçma sapan engeller ve hastalıklarla uğraşsın, ama yaşadığı bütün bu zorluklara rağmen bilimsel keşifler konusundaki heyecanını asla ama asla yitirmesin. Aksine tüm bu karmaşa içinde dünyanın nobel alan ilk kadın bilim insanı olma, iki nobel birden alabilen ilk ve tek bilim insanı olma, kızını da nobel alabilecek derecede yetiştirmek, periyodik tabloya radyum ve polonyum gibi iki yeni element kazandırmak, radyoaktivite üzerinde bilim dünyasını değiştirecek ölçüde çalışmalar yapmak, radyoterapinin temellerini atarak kanserle mücadeleyi başlatmak, ikinci dünya savaşında kaçmak yerine anatomi öğrenip kızıyla birlikte binlerce askeri tedavi etmek, bu tedaviler için X ışınlarını tıpta daha etkin kullanabileceği buluşlara imza atmak gibi yaz yaz bitmez işlere imza atsın. Yazarken önümü ilikleyesim geldi ama üzerimde tişört olduğundan mütevellit yapamadım ama yine de tüylerim diken diken oldu. Öyle... Marie Curie demeyeceksiniz, Marie Curie hanımefendi hazretleri diyeceksiniz.
İnsan düşünüyor tabi değil mi, tek başına on kaplan gücünde olan bu kadın kim bilir ne kadar kıymet görmüştür. Baksanıza kadın tek başına külliyat oluşturacak kadar bilim dünyasına buluşlar, yenilikler kazandırmış. Ama öyle olmuyor tabi, hiçbir başarısı cezasız kalmamış Marie Curie 'nin. Bu cezalandırma için yeri gelmiş bilimsel çalışmaları küçük gösterilmeye çalışılmış, yeri gelmiş yok polonyalı, yok yahudi dölü (ne kadar tanıdık!) diye milliyeti yüzünden aşağılanmış, yeri gelmiş yıllarca uğraştığı ve nobel ödüllü biri olduğu halde kendisine çalışmaları için kaynak ayrılmamış, en son da gazını alamayan Fransız medyası tarafından iffetsizlikle suçlanmış. Bu son atılan iftira nedeniyle kızları ve kendisi içindeyken evi halk tarafından taşlanmış, yıllarca bu bahane edilerek layık olduğu akademik unvanı verilmemiş kendisine.

Düşünüyorum da başka ülkelerde yaşama ve bilimsel çalışmalarıma çok daha rahat kaynak bulma şansım olduğu halde; bana bu kadar iftira atan, hainlik yapan bir devlette yaşar mıyım diye. Sanırım birçoğumuzun da hak vereceği üzre yaşamazdım sanırım. Peki Marie Curie hanımefendi hazretleri kendisine ve ailesine karşı yapılan bütün bu haksızlıklara rağmen ne mi yapıyor?
Maddi olarak çok sıkıntı çekmesine rağmen bilimin ruhuna aykırı diyerek buluşlarının hiçbirisini patentlemiyor.( Tesla' ya buradan selam olsun! ) Onları tek kuruş almadan ülkesinin ve insanlığın hizmetine sunuyor. İlerleyen yaşına ve hastalığına rağmen kendisinden sonra da radyoaktivite çalışmalarının devam ettirilmesi adına açacağı enstitüye kaynak bulmak için kapı kapı, ülke ülke gezip konferanslar, konuşmalar yapıyor. İkinci dünya savaşı esnasında ülkenin milliyetleri ile övünen asalakları can derdine düşüp kaçarken, o kaçmıyor. Aksine bütün bilgisinin üstüne anatomi öğrenip cephede yaralı askerleri tedavi ediyor. Burada küçük bir anekdot daha vermek istiyorum ki o da şu; Marie Curie hanımefendi hazretlerinin kendisi için bu kadar çırpındığı Fransa, Marie Curie' nin aday gösterildiği Nobel Fizik ödülünü almaması için, diğer aday adına kulis yapan ülkedir aynı zamanda. Gerçekten hiçbir iyilik cezasız kalmıyormuş!

Bütün bu engellemelere rağmen yine de, Marie Curie hanımefendi hazretlerinin ışığını gölgelemeye hiçbir devletin, hiçbir otoritenin gücü yetmemiş. Hayatının son demlerinde de olsa eşi Pierre Curie ile yıllarca hayalini kurduğu laboratuvarını açmış, hak ettiği bütün akademik ünvanlara kavuşmuş, hatta ülkesinin kendisinden esirgediği saygıyı dünya çapında kavuştuğu şöhret sayesinde tırnakları ile sökerek almıştır. Bütün bu tanınma ve şöhrete rağmen kişiliğinden zerre taviz vermemiş, ömrünün sonuna kadar kendisi olmaktan da vazgeçmemiştir. Hatta bu konuyla iligili olarak Einstein Marie Curie' yi "şöhretin yozlaştıramadığı tek ünlü kişi" olarak tanımlar.

Bir kadın dünya bilim tarihine damga vurduğu halde, sırf kadın olduğu için ne tür engellerle, zorluklarla karşılaşır, bir insan bütün engellemelere rağmen aşkını, şevkini nasıl yitirmez görmek istiyorsanız mutlaka okuyun bu kitabı. Azmin, cesaretin, çalışkanlığın, vazgeçmemenin vücut bulmuş hali bu kadın ve kesinlikle hakkında yapılacak uzun uzun okumalara değecek kadar da iyi kalpli biri.

Keyifli okumalar :)

NOT: İzlemek isteyenler için;
Kendisi için yapılan belgesel: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3825cl
Film : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5705058/