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Life and work of Marie Curie of Skłodowska. Maria Sklodowska-Curie. Maria Skłodowska-Curie is the best student

Maria Sklodowska-Curie

An outstanding physicist, chemist, experimental researcher, winner of two Nobel Prizes… It’s even hard to believe that we are talking about fragile attractive woman— Marie Skłodowska-Curie, who achieved a lot in her life: a great scientist, a loving and devoted wife, a caring mother of two daughters.

Childhood and youth: through thorns to knowledge

In the family of the Poles Bronislava and Vladislav Sklodovsky, on November 7, 1867, the fifth child was born - daughter Maria. Her parents were educated people - her father taught, and her mother was the director of a women's gymnasium. Maria grew up as a capable, inquisitive and responsible child, while studying at a boarding school and gymnasium she was one of the best pupils. The life of the Sklodowski family was not easy. The father had problems with work because of his relationship with the Russian authorities, under the occupation of which Poland was, the mother was ill for a long time and died when Maria was still a teenager. The family experienced financial difficulties, and the children had to earn extra money. But the girl was drawn to knowledge, so her efforts were rewarded with a gold medal for excellent studies. Unfortunately, women in Poland were not allowed to study at universities, and financial situation family did not give the opportunity to study abroad.

The older sister Bronislava dreamed of medicine, and Mary was attracted to the natural sciences. Realizing that there was not enough money for joint education, the sisters decided to support each other. While in Paris older sister will receive medical education, Maria will help her by working in Poland as a governess. For a long and dreary 5 years, the girl had to work in other people's families, and only when Bronislava received a doctor's degree, Maria was able to study further. In 1891, 24-year-old Pole Maria Sklodowska became a student at the Sorbonne. She studied furiously: she disappeared all the time in the library and laboratories, lacked sleep, saved on food and transport. And already in 1893 she received a licentiate (master) diploma in physics, and the next year she became a licentiate in mathematics.

Pierre and Marie Curie - harmony not only in the family, but also in science

Many women studied at the French Sorbonne, but in the history of the university there were no women teachers before Maria Sklodowska - she became the first.
In her life at this time, everything was going well. Finishing her studies at the Sorbonne, she met a young, but already famous French scientist, Pierre Curie, who was simply fascinated by her and first thought about marriage. For almost 5 years, the Frenchman courted a young Polish woman, until she finally realized that with this person you can not only start a family, but also be comrades-in-arms in scientific activity. In 1895, Maria became Skłodowska-Curie, and in 1897 their first daughter, Irene, was born. Despite a difficult pregnancy, Maria continued to engage in physical research, and soon the world saw the first work of a young scientist on the magnetic properties of hardened steels.

When choosing a topic for her doctoral dissertation, Maria became interested in Henri Becquerel's research on the anomalous rays emitted by uranium salts. 4 years of continuous experiments gave an amazing result: chemical radioactive elements called polonium and radium were isolated from uranium ore. Also, Maria Sklodowska-Curie introduced a new concept - radioactivity. But discovering new elements was only half the battle, the scientific world needed to present their material evidence. Having processed tons of uranium ore in conditions absolutely unsuitable for scientific research, in 1902 Sklodovsky-Curie managed to extract 0.1 grams of radium. She described all her research in her doctoral dissertation, which she submitted for defense at the Sorbonne and successfully defended.
In 1903, the Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics to the Curies and Henri Becquerel for joint research on the phenomenon of radioactivity, and Marie became the first woman to receive such an award.

The Curies have huge scientific plans– Pierre is the head of the physics department, and Maria is the head of the laboratory. They continue their research. In 1904, an addition to the family - the youngest daughter Eva was born.

The scientific world applauds for the second time

But fully enjoy world fame and family well-being an absurd tragic accident prevented - Pierre Curie died under the wheels of a cart. Maria lost not only her husband, but also a like-minded person in joint work. She took this loss very hard, but their joint research needed to be continued. She was offered to head the department of physics instead of Pierre, and she became the first female professor to lecture at the Sorbonne. Sklodowska-Curie and André Debierne obtained pure radium in 1910 and thus confirmed that it is an independent element. This convincingly proved that 12 years of research were going in the right direction.

1911 was again a triumphant year for Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Her contribution to the development of chemistry was appreciated by the Nobel Prize, the second in her life. So far, no woman has received this award twice.

Radiation in medicine

To study radioactivity, the Radium Institute was created, to which Professor Sklodowska-Curie was invited as director of the department for the use of radioactivity in medical purposes. But I World War interfered with his work.
Maria, realizing that her knowledge and experience can be useful in war time, headed the radiology service in the Red Cross organization. At the fronts, there was a catastrophic lack of X-ray units, and she set about creating mobile laboratories. In this business, she invested her personal savings and attracted sponsors. These installations, affectionately referred to as "kiurichki", have saved many lives.
In recent years, Madame Curie's health began to deteriorate sharply. First, problems with the eyes began, then cholelithiasis worsened. In December 1933, the ailment intensified, but the doctors could not establish an accurate diagnosis, so the treatment did not give any results.
This outstanding woman died on July 4, 1934, and the cause of death was aplastic radiation anemia. Skłodowska-Curie was killed by her own great discoveries.

Sklodowska-Curie Maria

(b. 1867 - d. 1934)

An outstanding physicist and chemist, one of the creators of the theory of radioactivity. Together with her husband Pierre Curie, she discovered radium and polonium (1898). Twice laureate Nobel Prize- for the study of radioactivity (1903) and for the study of the properties of metallic radium (1911).

Once Maria Sklodowska wrote in her diary: “Life is not easy, but what can you do - you need to have perseverance, and most importantly, believe in yourself. You must believe that you were born into the world for some purpose, and achieve this goal, no matter what it takes. Perhaps hidden in these words amazing secret success of an outstanding scientist, a woman who, during her lifetime, was awarded all sorts of honors and became famous throughout the world. The genius and incredible luck of the twice Nobel Prize winner were undeniable for those around, but only Maria knew what titanic work and willpower are behind every scientific discovery...

Maria Sklodowska was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw in a large family of teachers. When the girl was 11 years old, her mother died of tuberculosis. All care for the children was taken by the father, who had to combine the teaching of physics and mathematics in the gymnasium with the difficult role of the head of the family. However, he honorably coped with these duties and not only helped the children to go through a difficult period, but also did everything to ensure that each of them could fully enjoy life. Maria Sklodowska retained her love for her father and the feeling of spiritual closeness with him for the rest of her life. One by one, the children graduated from the gymnasium - and all with gold medals. Maria was no exception, who grew up inquisitive from childhood and was the first student in the gymnasium. Even then, she felt the attractive power of science and worked as a laboratory assistant in her cousin's chemical laboratory. One day, seeing the girl at work, a family friend, the great Russian chemist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, predicted a great future for Maria if she continued her studies. Continuing her studies was Maria's most cherished dream, but two obstacles stood in the way of her realization: the poverty of the family and the ban on the admission of women to the University of Warsaw. Therefore, immediately after graduating from high school, Maria began to earn extra money with private lessons. In rain and snow, she ran around Warsaw from one student to another, but she perfectly understood the futility of her position as a “tutor” and therefore began to look for at least some way out. Together with her sister Bronya, they developed a plan: Bronya leaves for Paris and receives a medical education, and Maria works as a governess for five years and regularly sends her money. When the sister finishes her studies, she will call Maria to her and, in turn, will help her.

Having excellent characteristics in her hands, Maria easily found a place as a governess in a family of wealthy landowners. She spent three long painful years in a province far from home among strangers. For most of the day, the girl studied with her little students, and in her free time she read a lot, solved algebraic and trigonometric problems, and completed assignments in physics and chemistry. Sklodowska was finally convinced that none of the sciences attracted her as much as physics and mathematics. Often Maria closed her eyes and imagined how she would study at the Sorbonne, where the very air is saturated with knowledge, where they teach biology, sociology, chemistry and her favorite physics.

The loneliness of the girl sometimes became unbearable. Sometimes it seemed to her that dreams could not come true and time had stopped. By an effort of will, she forced herself to continue working and regularly sent money to her sister in Paris. During the three years spent in the village, only one significant event happened to her, which, however, brought Mary an additional portion of pain and disappointment: love broke out between her and the son of the owners. But the groom's parents opposed the conclusion of an unequal marriage. Having experienced a personal drama, Maria became even more withdrawn into herself. Some time later, she returned to Warsaw, where she continued to work as a governess.

In 1891, a long-awaited letter arrived from Paris, in which Bronya happily announced that Maria had the opportunity to become a student at the Sorbonne. Having collected her meager savings, she left for the capital of France. The girl was happy: at last, on the horizon, the outlines of her most secret dream glimmered. Before Paris, Sklodowska traveled for several days in a fourth-class carriage, spending the entire journey on a folding chair. But these inconveniences seemed to her mere trifles - after all, ahead of the Sorbonne and a new, exciting life. Arriving in Paris, Sklodowska entered the university at the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Maria studied with passion and enviable perseverance. And in the evenings she returned to the modest apartment of her sister and son-in-law on German Street, which Bronya furnished with excellent taste with things bought at sales. Peace and mutual understanding reigned here, big companies compatriots who, over a cup of tea, recalled their homeland, sang and played the piano. However, despite the love with which she was surrounded by relatives and new friends, Maria soon began to suffer due to the fact that she could not retire and work in silence. Under the pretext that it was far - and expensive - for her to travel to the university, she rented a small room near the Sorbonne, where she could study in peace.

Difficult months passed. According to the memoirs of her daughter Maria, Sklodowska "doomed herself to a Spartan existence, where there was no place for human weaknesses." The room in which the girl lived was hardly heated; there was no lighting or water in it. In order to pay for housing, to buy notebooks and books, she lived in the strictest economy: she never used omnibuses, and in order not to spend money on kerosene, she studied in libraries. For many weeks, her daily diet consisted of only tea and bread and butter, and sometimes only a bunch of radishes or a few cherries. It happened that from malnutrition Maria lost consciousness right at the lectures. Despite this, the girl continued to work hard: step by step, she took a course in mathematics, chemistry, physics, and mastered the technique of research. It seemed to her that she would never be able to quench her thirst for knowledge. Sklodowska did not understand those who considered science to be a "dry area". “I am one of those,” she wrote many years later, “who are convinced of the great beauty of science. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a specialist. It is also a child standing in front of natural phenomena that strike him as fairy tale. We must be able to tell others about these feelings. We should not put up with the opinion that all scientific progress is reduced to mechanisms, machines, gears, although they are also beautiful in themselves.

Such perseverance and love for science could not but bear fruit: in 1893, Sklodowska became the first among the licentiates of the Faculty of Physics, and a year later - among the licentiates of the Mathematics.

Some time later, one of the most important things happened in Mary's life. significant events: visiting her friends she met Pierre Curie. The famous French physicist was an intelligent and noble person, just like Sklodowska, deeply devoted to science. Having devoted his life to scientific vocation, he needed a girlfriend who "could live the same dream as he did - a scientific dream." Pierre Curie seemed to Mary very young, although he was then already 35 years old. “I was struck by the expression of his clear eyes and a slight shade of ease in the posture of his tall figure. His speech, somewhat slow and deliberate, his simplicity, smile, both serious and youthful, inspired confidence,” M. Curie later recalled.

Having become close on the basis of common interests, young people began to meet. More and more they were imbued with mutual sympathy, which grew into a deep feeling. For 27-year-old Maria, who had no illusions about her personal life for a long time, this unexpected love seemed like a magical miracle. On July 25, 1895 they got married. From now on, the spouses were together everywhere: in laboratories, at lectures, in preparation for exams and in moments of rest. They were happy, understood and loved each other, not forgetting about their favorite work. Even the birth of her daughter Irene could not prevent Maria from continuing to do science. The young woman managed to manage the household, take care of the baby, and work in her husband's laboratory. In addition, Marie Curie began work on her dissertation, becoming interested in the discovery of uranium radiation by A. Becquerel, a completely new and unexplored material. When deciding to take on the development of this topic, Maria had no idea that she was at the very epicenter scientific interests XX century.

In a damp and cold workshop that served as a warehouse and machine room, Curie began her research. A careful study of various materials confirmed the correctness of Becquerel, who believed that pure uranium has more radioactivity than any of its compounds. And although the results of hundreds of experiments spoke about this, the spouses subjected more and more new substances to research. Scientists drew attention to the fact that two uranium minerals - chalcolite and the resin ore of Bohemia - are much more radioactive than uranium and thorium. The conclusion suggested itself: they contain an unknown chemical element (perhaps more than one) with an even higher degree of radioactivity. In order to find a new substance, Pierre Curie left all the research he had previously worked on and joined his wife. In June 1898, the Curies announced the existence of a new radioelement, proposing to call it "polonium" (in honor of Mary's homeland), and in December of the same year they announced the discovery of radium, which was named so for its inexhaustible ability to emit radiation ("radius" in translated from Latin - a ray).

However, scientists did not flatter themselves about relatively quick success, since the main work was ahead: in order to prove to the whole world the correctness of their assumptions, it was necessary to isolate these chemical elements, determine their atomic weight. Here the Curies faced a colossal problem: even the most radioactive products contained only traces of new elements, which meant that tons of raw materials would have to be processed to isolate them. They knew what methods could be used to achieve the desired results, but the research required large material costs, in addition, they needed staff and appropriate premises, and the Curies had none of this. Perhaps someone else in their place would have given up, but the spouses did not have to stop in their thoughts. They turned to one of the Austrian physicists with a request to help them acquire affordable price waste of uranium ore and in parallel with this began the search for a suitable room for the upcoming work. The management of the Sorbonne refused to help, and the couple placed their workshop next to the university - in an old abandoned barn with plank walls, asphalt instead of a floor and a glass roof that leaked during the rain. Subsequently, M. Curie will say that it was in these miserable "mansions" that "the best and happiest years of our lives, entirely devoted to science, passed."

While scientists were developing their new possessions, good news came from Austria: at the request of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, the Austrian government instructed the director of the mine to send several tons of uranium ore waste to Paris. Soon the cherished bags of material were in the "laboratory". At first, the couple worked together on the chemical isolation of radium and polonium. Gradually, however, they came to the conclusion that it was advisable to separate responsibilities. Maria continued processing the ore to obtain pure radium salts, and Pierre experimented to refine the properties of the new material.

There were no hoods in the barn, and harmful gases were released during work, so Maria could more often be seen in the yard, surrounded by clouds of smoke. In winter, and in bad weather, she worked in a barn with open windows. “I had to process up to twenty kilograms of the starting material a day,” Curie recalled, “and as a result, our entire shed was filled with large vessels with sediments and solutions: it was exhausting work to carry bags, vessels, pour liquids and mix for hours iron rod boiling mass in a cast-iron cauldron. However, despite the difficult working conditions, the scientists felt happy and lived absorbed in one concern, as if enchanted. In 1902, four long years after the day the Curies announced the probable existence of radium, they managed to isolate one decigram of this element, thereby gaining its official recognition.

Scientists dreamed of a new laboratory where they could continue to get acquainted with their offspring, but fate was in no hurry to make their dream come true. However, even under conditions that left much to be desired, they learned more and more details about radium. It turned out, for example, that it emits not only rays: each gram of this metal releases heat per hour, sufficient to melt the same amount of ice. If, however, a small pinch of radium salts is placed in a glass tube and soldered, and after a few days the air is distilled from it into another sealed tube, then it will begin to glow in the dark with a greenish-blue light. Many scientists became interested in these studies, among them such as Ernst Rutherford, Frederick Soddy, William Ramsay. In addition, many doctors drew attention to the new element, since it had another property: radium radiation caused burns to the human body. Pierre Curie voluntarily exposed his hand to radium for several hours: the skin first turned red, then a wound formed, which took more than two months to heal. After that, the Curies conducted a series of experiments on irradiating animals. The results were stunning: by destroying diseased cells, radium helps to cure skin cancer, a disease against which medicine was powerless.

In 1904, radium, with which scientists hoped to defeat cancer, began to be mined industrial way- the first plant for its production was built. Despite constant financial difficulties, the Curies abandoned the patent for the production of radium, giving the world their unique discovery disinterestedly. Very quickly, almost all corners of the world learned about the French pioneering physicists the globe. In 1903, Maria and Pierre, at the invitation of the Royal Society, visited London, where they were awarded one of the highest awards - the Davy medal. Almost simultaneously with this event, the Curies, together with Henri Becquerel, were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery in the field of radioactivity. This is the first time a woman has received such a prize in physics. This was the pinnacle of their scientific glory! An honorary and prestigious award from the Swedish Academy of Sciences put an end to their financial difficulties.

Finally, Marie and Pierre Curie had the hope that the coming years of work would not be as difficult as the previous ones. Life seemed to get better and opened up new perspectives for scientists. The spouses were pleased not only with their favorite work, but also with the harmony and tranquility in the family. By this time, they had already raised two daughters - the eldest Irene and the youngest Eve, whom they dearly loved. But this happy period life was very short. On April 19, 1906, Pierre died a terrible and ridiculous death, falling under the wheels of a horse-drawn carriage. Maria lost a like-minded person, a husband, a father of her small children. “His love was an excellent gift, faithful and selfless, full of affection and care. How good it was to be surrounded by this love, and how bitter it was to lose it!” she wrote in her memoirs. Many years passed before Mary began to recover from her grief. “In essence, she never consoled herself and reconciled herself,” recalled her eldest daughter Irene Joliot-Curie.

Marie Curie replaced her husband as professor at the University of Paris, becoming the first female professor in France. high school. For those years when it was not even thought that a woman could take the position of a teacher in a higher educational institution, this initiative was very bold. At the Sorbonne, she gave the first and at that time the only course in the world of radioactivity. Simultaneously with teaching, M. Curie managed the laboratory and raised her daughters, one of whom was still a baby. Pierre's father, who lived with them for many years, helped her look after the girls. However, in 1911 he died, which was another severe blow for her. In 1910, Marie Curie was nominated for the Academy of Sciences, but failed: anti-feminists launched a vicious campaign against her nomination. Subsequently, she became a member of many foreign academies of sciences, but was never elected to the French Academy of Sciences.

During this dark period of her life, the second Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awarded by the Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, was especially valuable for Marie Curie. Years later, her daughter Irene received the same award.

Despite the fact that the work left little time for rest and entertainment, Mary's interests were not limited to science. She loved poetry, knew many poems by heart. According to the memoirs of her daughter, Curie enjoyed spending time in country walks, she liked to work in the garden. “She loved nature and knew how to enjoy it, but not contemplatively. In the garden she took care of flowers, in the mountains she loved to walk, stopping, of course, sometimes to rest and admire the scenery. But it would give her no pleasure to spend the day in an armchair in front of a magnificent panorama ... "

Marie Curie did not like secular receptions and tried to visit them as little as possible. Irene recalled: “... the fact that her mother did not seek secular connections is sometimes considered evidence of her modesty ... I believe that this is rather just the opposite: she very correctly assessed her importance and she was not at all flattered by meetings with titled persons or with ministers. I think she was very pleased when she happened to meet Rudyard Kipling, and the fact that she was introduced to the Queen of Romania did not make any impression on her.

In 1914, what the Curies had dreamed of more than once came true: in Paris, on Pierre Curie Street, the construction of the Radium Institute was completed. It would seem that now Maria could plunge headlong into her favorite work, but the war burst into her plans like a whirlwind. Curie decided that she could not remain in the silence of offices if people were dying somewhere.

With the same energy with which she processed tons of ore in her time, Maria took on the most difficult task - organizing X-ray examinations of the wounded not only in rear hospitals, but also in field conditions. Curie created the first mobile X-ray machine, equipping an ordinary car with the necessary equipment. Then, by analogy, several dozen more machines were created. Jokingly nicknamed "kiurichki" at the front, they appeared everywhere where there were fierce battles. Often Maria herself examined the wounded, moving from one field hospital to another.

After the war, M. Curie continued her research, devoting a lot of energy to the development of a large research center - the Institute of Radium.

In the autumn of 1933, her health deteriorated sharply, and a few months later the outstanding scientist passed away. She died on May 4, 1934 from a serious blood disease caused by prolonged exposure to radioactive substances, becoming the first person on Earth to die from the deadly rays of radium.

The whole life of Marie Sklodowska-Curie is a hymn to science, which she loved and without which she could not imagine her existence. She sincerely believed that only science and its creative power could save humanity from wars and suffering. The woman who became the first researcher of nuclear radiation hoped that "she would derive more good from new discoveries than evil."

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Even at the beginning of the 20th century, before the First World War, when time was measured and unhurried, ladies wore corsets, and women who were already married had to observe decency (housekeeping and staying at home), Curie Marie was awarded two Nobel Prizes: in 1908 - in physics, in 1911 - in chemistry. She did a lot of things first, but perhaps the main thing is that Mary made a real revolution in the public mind. Women after her boldly went into science, without fear from the scientific community, which at that time consisted of men, of ridicule in their direction. Amazing person was Marie Curie. The biography below will convince you of this.

Origin

The maiden name of this woman was Sklodowska. Her father, Vladislav Sklodovsky, graduated in his time Petersburg University. Then he returned to Warsaw to teach mathematics and physics at the gymnasium. His wife, Bronislava, ran a boarding school where schoolgirls studied. She helped her husband in everything, was a passionate lover of reading. In total, the family had five children. Maria Sklodowska-Curie (Manya, as she was called in childhood) is the youngest.

Warsaw childhood

All her childhood passed under the cough of her mother. Bronislava suffered from tuberculosis. She died when Mary was only 11 years old. All the children of the Sklodovskys were distinguished by curiosity and learning abilities, and it was simply impossible to tear Manya away from the book. The father encouraged the passion for learning in his children as best he could. The only thing that upset the family was the need to study in Russian. In the photo above - the house in which Maria was born and spent her childhood. Now there is a museum here.

The situation in Poland

Poland at that time was part of Russian Empire. Therefore, all the gymnasiums were controlled by Russian officials who ensured that all subjects were taught in the language of this empire. Children even had to read in Russian, and not in their native language, in which they prayed and spoke at home. Vladislav often got upset because of this. After all, sometimes a student capable of mathematics, who perfectly solved various problems in Polish, suddenly became "stupid" when it was required to switch to Russian, which he did not speak well. Having seen all these humiliations since childhood, Maria future life, however, like the rest of the inhabitants of the state, torn apart at that time, she was a fierce patriot, as well as a conscientious member of the Parisian Polish community.

Sisters Persuasion

It was not easy for a girl to grow up without a mother. Dad, always busy at work, pedantic teachers at the gymnasium ... Manya was best friends with Bronya, her sister. They agreed as teenagers that they would definitely study further, after graduating from the gymnasium. In Warsaw higher education it was impossible for women to get at that time, so they dreamed of the Sorbonne. The agreement was as follows: Bronya will be the first to start her studies, since she is older. And Manya will earn money for her education. When she learns to be a doctor, Manya will immediately begin to study, and her sister will help her as best she can. However, it turned out that the dream of Paris had to be postponed for almost 5 years.

Work as a governess

Manya became a governess at the Pike estate, to the children of a wealthy local landowner. The owners did not appreciate the bright mind of this girl. At every step they let her know that she was just a poor servant. In Pike, the girl's life was not easy, but she endured for the sake of Armor. Both sisters graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal. Brother Jozef (also, by the way, a gold medalist) went to Warsaw, enrolling in Faculty of Medicine. Elya also received a medal, but her claims were more modest. She decided to stay with her father, run the household. The 4th sister in the family died as a child when her mother was still alive. In general, Vladislav could rightfully be proud of his remaining children.

First lover

Maria's employers had five children. She taught the younger ones, but Kazimierz, the eldest son, often came for holidays. He drew attention to such an unusual governess. She was very independent. In addition, which was very unusual for a girl of that time, she ran on skates, perfectly handled the oars, skillfully drove the carriage and rode. And also, as she later admitted to Kazimierz, she was very fond of writing poetry, as well as reading books on mathematics, which seemed to her poetry.

After a while, a platonic feeling arose between the young people. Manya was plunged into despair by the fact that the arrogant parents of his lover would never allow him to connect his fate with a governess. Kazimierz came for summer vacations and holidays, and the rest of the time the girl lived in anticipation of a meeting. But now it's time to quit and go to Paris. Manya left Pike with a heavy heart - Kazimierz and the years illuminated by first love remained in the past.

Then, when Pierre Curie appears in the life of 27-year-old Mary, she will immediately understand that he will become her faithful husband. Everything will be different in the case of him - without violent dreams and outbursts of feelings. Or maybe Maria will just get older?

Device in Paris

The girl arrived in 1891 in France. Armor and her husband, Kazimierz Dlussky, who also worked as a doctor, began to patronize her. However, the determined Maria (in Paris she began to call herself Marie) opposed this. She rented a room on her own, and also signed up for the Sorbonne, natural faculty. Marie settled in Paris in the Latin Quarter. Libraries, laboratories and the university were in the neighborhood with him. Dlussky helped his wife's sister to carry modest belongings on a handcart. Marie resolutely refused to settle down with any girl in order to pay less for a room - she wanted to study until late and in silence. Its budget in 1892 was 40 rubles, or 100 francs a month, that is, 3 and a half francs a day. And it was necessary to pay for a room, clothes, food, books, notebooks and university studies ... The girl cut herself off in food. And since she studied very hard, she soon fainted right in the classroom. A classmate ran to ask for help to the Dlusskys. And they again took Marie to them so that she could pay less for housing and eat normally.

Acquaintance with Pierre

One day, a fellow student of Marie invited her to visit a famous physicist from Poland. Then the girl first saw the man with whom she was destined to subsequently win world fame. At that time, the girl was 27, and Pierre was 35 years old. When Marie entered the living room, he was standing in the balcony opening. The girl tried to examine it, and the sun blinded her. This is how Maria Sklodowska and Pierre Curie met.

Pierre was devoted to science with all his heart. Parents have already tried several times to introduce him to a girl, but always in vain - they all seemed to him uninteresting, stupid and petty. And that evening, after talking with Marie, he realized that he had found an equal interlocutor. At that time, the girl was carrying out work commissioned by the Society for the Promotion of National Industry, on the magnetic properties of different grades of steel. Marie had just begun her research in Lipmann's lab. And Pierre, who worked at the School of Physics and Chemistry, already had research on magnetism and even the "Curie law" discovered by him. The young people had a lot to talk about. Pierre was so carried away by Marie that early in the morning he went to the fields in order to pick daisies for his beloved.

Wedding

Pierre and Marie got married on July 14, 1895 and went to Ile-de-France to Honeymoon. Here they read, rode bicycles, discussed scientific topics. Pierre, even to please his young wife, began to learn Polish ...

Fateful acquaintance

By the time of the birth of Irene, their first daughter, Marie's husband had already defended his doctoral dissertation, and his wife graduated first in her graduation from the Sorbonne University. At the end of 1897, a study on magnetism was completed, and Curie Marie began to look for a topic for a dissertation. At this time, the couple met a physicist. He discovered a year ago that uranium compounds emit radiation that penetrates deeply. It was, unlike X-ray, an intrinsic property of uranium. Curie Marie, infatuated mysterious phenomenon decided to study it. Pierre set aside his work in order to help his wife.

The first discoveries and the award of the Nobel Prize

Pierre and Marie Curie discovered two new elements in 1898. They named the first of them polonium (in honor of Marie's homeland, Poland), and the second - radium. Since they did not isolate either one or the other element, they could not provide evidence of their existence to chemists. And for the next 4 years, the couple extracted radium and polonium from Pierre and Marie Curie from morning to night worked in a crevice barn, being exposed to radiation. The couple suffered burns before realizing the dangers of the research. However, they decided to continue them! The couple received 1/10 gram of radium chloride in September 1902. But they failed to isolate polonium - as it turned out, it was a decay product of radium. Radium salt gave off warmth and a bluish glow. This fantastic substance attracted the attention of the whole world. In December 1903, the couple was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in collaboration with Becquerel. Curie Marie was the first woman to receive it!

Loss of a husband

Their second daughter, Eva, was born to them in December 1904. By that time, the financial situation of the family had improved significantly. Pierre became a professor of physics at the Sorbonne, and his wife worked for her husband as the head of the laboratory. A terrible event happened in April 1906. Pierre was killed by the crew. Maria Sklodowska-Curie, having lost her husband, colleague and best friend fell into a depression for several months.

Second Nobel Prize

However, life went on. The woman concentrated all her efforts on isolating pure radium metal, and not its compounds. And she received this substance in 1910 (in collaboration with A. Debirn). Marie Curie discovered it and proved that radium is a chemical element. They even wanted to accept her for this as a member of the French Academy of Sciences in the wake of great success, but debates unfolded, persecution began in the press, and eventually won. In 1911, Marie was awarded the 2nd She became the first laureate to be awarded it twice.

Work at the Radiev Institute

The Radiev Institute was established for research on radioactivity shortly before the outbreak of the First World War. Curie worked here in the area fundamental research radioactivity and medical use. During the war years, she trained military doctors in radiology, for example, to detect shrapnel in the body of a wounded person using X-rays, and delivered portable ones to the front line. Irene, her daughter, was among the doctors she taught.

last years of life

Even in her advanced years, Marie Curie continued her work. short biography of these years is marked by the following: she worked with doctors, students, wrote scientific papers, and also released a biography of her husband. Marie traveled to Poland, which finally gained independence. She also visited the USA, where she was greeted with triumph and where she was presented with 1 g of radium to continue the experiments (its cost, by the way, is equivalent to the cost of more than 200 kg of gold). However, interaction with radioactive substances made itself felt. Her health was deteriorating, and on July 4, 1934, Curie Marie died of leukemia. It happened in the French Alps, in a small hospital located in Sansellemosa.

Marie Curie University in Lublin

In honor of the Curies, the chemical element curium (No. 96) was named. And the name of the great woman Mary was immortalized in the name of the university in Lublin (Poland). It is one of the largest state-owned institutions of higher education in Poland. The Maria Curie-Skłodowska University was founded in 1944, in front of it there is a monument shown in the photo above. Associate Professor Heinrich Raabe became the first rector and organizer of this educational institution. Today it consists of the following 10 faculties:

Biology and biotechnology.

Arts.

Humanities.

Philosophy and sociology.

Pedagogy and psychology.

Geosciences and Spatial Planning.

Mathematics, physics and computer science.

Rights and management.

Political Science.

Pedagogy and psychology.

More than 23.5 thousand students have chosen the Marie Curie University, of which about 500 are foreigners.


Name: Marie Curie-Sklodovskaya

Age: 66 years old

Place of Birth: Warsaw

Place of death: Sancellmosa, France

Activity: French physicist

Family status: was married

Maria Sklodowska-Curie - Biography

By becoming the world's first Nobel Prize winner (twice!), Marie Skłodowska-Curie broke the stereotype that only men can do science. She gave humanity a new element, radium, which eventually destroyed her.

Warsaw, late XIX century. In a poor Sklodovsky family, the mother recently died of tuberculosis, and before her, one of the daughters. The father of the family barely managed to feed the remaining four children. And two teenage daughters, Maria Salomeya and Bronislava, so wanted to become doctors!.. It seemed that dreams would remain dreams, and not only because there was no money for studies. In the Russian Empire, which included Poland, women in higher educational establishments did not accept. But the sisters came up with a plan: Maria would work as a governess for five years in order to enable her sister to graduate medical institute in Paris. And then Bronislava will pay for Maria's accommodation and education in the French capital.

Maria Skłodowska-Curie is the best student

Going to France in 1891, 23-year-old Maria Sklodowska had already changed her mind about becoming a doctor. She was interested in physics, mathematics and chemistry, and it was these that she began to study at the Sorbonne. Armor, as agreed, helped her with money, but almost everything was "eaten up" by the tuition fee. There was barely enough money to live on: Maria rented a tiny attic room in the Latin Quarter and could only eat a few radishes all day.


However, even in those days when she had enough food, the girl could forget about them, immersed in books and notes. Several times it ended with hungry fainting spells and harsh reprimands from doctors, but the student did not become more attentive to herself. How can you think about some kind of food or sleep when so many amazing secrets are hidden in textbooks on physics and chemistry!

Maria Sklodowska-Curie - biography of personal life

After graduating, Skłodowska became the first female teacher at the Sorbonne. At the same time, she was also engaged in scientific research. In those years, Mary was interested magnetic properties alloys. For example, why do magnetized substances behave differently with increasing temperature, and at a certain temperature they sharply lose their magnetic properties? ..

However, there were no suitable conditions in the Sorbonne laboratory to study magnetism, and one of Sklodowska's colleagues decided to introduce her to the young physicist Pierre Curie, who led the laboratory at the Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry. When she first saw Pierre, Maria felt that she wanted to be close to this calm, thoughtful man. At that moment, she was not a physicist, but a romantic woman who met her fate...

Pierre Curie felt the same way. “To love is not to look at each other. To love means to look together in the same direction, ”the French writer and pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery would write many years later. The Curies can be called perfect example that kind of love. After exchanging their first words, they realized that they were looking in the same direction - in the direction of the secrets that nature hides and which they want to unravel.


Pierre and Maria began working together and less than a year later, in July 1895, they played a very modest wedding. In 1897, their daughter Irene was born - in the future she will continue their work and also become Nobel laureate with her husband Frederic Jo-liot. And a year later, Maria, the initiator of everything new in the family, invited her husband to do research on the recently discovered and completely unexplored phenomenon of radioactivity at that time. However, this term did not yet exist: later Maria herself would propose it.

Marie Sklodowska-Curie - the highest award

The study of radioactivity without special protective equipment is extremely dangerous, but at that time it was not yet known. Maria with my own hands sorted out powdered uranium minerals and cleaned them of impurities in a wooden shed. The consequences of this manifested themselves later in the form of ulcers and burns on her hands, due to which Maria did not take off her gloves in public until the end of her life.

But even in the midst of her research, Sklodowska-Curie did not forget to make time for her beloved. On weekends, they rode their bikes out of town and had a picnic. In her youth, Maria almost never cooked for herself, but now she has learned to cook Pierre's favorite dishes. At the same time, she tried to spend as little time as possible on household chores, devoting every free minute to work.

The efforts of the Curies were rewarded: in 1903, together with Henri Becquerel, who discovered radioactive radiation, they received an invitation to Stockholm to receive the highest award. scientific world- The Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery and study of this phenomenon.

Maria and Pierre could not come to the award ceremony: both were sick. However, the Nobel Committee repeated the ceremony for them six months later. For Maria, this was one of the rare "outings" when she could dress not in a lab coat, but in an evening dress and make a beautiful hairstyle. Compared to other ladies who were present at the award ceremony, she looked very modest: of the jewelry she wore only a thin gold chain, almost invisible against the background of sparkling precious stones around ...

Maria Sklodowska-Curie - alone again

The happiness of the Curie spouses ended in 1906, when Pierre died an absurd death - he fell under the carriage. By that time, their second daughter Eva Denise, the future biographer of Mary, had already been born with Maria.

From the outside, it might seem that Maria was not so worried about the death of her husband: she did not become depressed, did not cry, did not refuse to communicate with people. She just continued to work and take care of children - the same way as before. But in fact, this is precisely what testifies to what she felt for Pierre true love, and not frivolous love and not selfish passion. After his death, Maria behaved as he probably would have liked: she continued their work and raised her daughters as worthy people.

Skłodowska-Curie received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. Again there were magnificent outfits and sparkling jewelry around, loud words were again heard that she “contributed to the birth new area science - radiology". Only her beloved husband was no longer around. Curie received her second Nobel Prize for the discovery of radium and polonium. For the first time she isolated the salts of these chemical elements together with Pierre, and later calculated their atomic weight and described their properties, and also managed to obtain pure radium, which became the international standard for this substance. Maria and Pierre dreamed that the new metal they discovered would be of an unusual color, but radium, like most metals, turned out to be silvery. But it glowed in the dark, and the couple often admired its cold glow...

Before the First World War, Maria closely studied the possibilities of using radiology in medicine, and at the beginning of the war she proposed using x-rays in hospitals to determine exactly where bullets and shrapnel were stuck in the bodies of the wounded. Remembering her youthful dream of becoming a doctor, she, along with her daughter Irene, began to travel to military hospitals with a mobile X-ray machine and show doctors how to use it. And later it turned out that radioactivity can help in the treatment of cancer.

Until the end of her life, Maria kept diaries in which she addressed her late husband as if she were alive, shared her thoughts, successes, and problems. She considered her main brainchild to be the Radium Institute established in 1914 in Paris, which later spawned similar institutions in other countries, including Russia. The scientist died in 1934 from aplastic anemia, becoming the first person on Earth to die from radiation exposure. She was buried next to her husband in the Paris Pantheon.

A small, windswept barn filled with ore, huge vats emitting a pungent smell of chemicals, and two people, a man and a woman, conjuring over them...

An outsider who found such a picture could suspect this couple of something illegal. AT best case- in the underground production of alcohol, at worst - in the creation of bombs for terrorists. And certainly it would not have occurred to an outside observer that in front of him are two great physicists standing at the forefront of science.

Today the words atomic Energy”, “radiation”, “radioactivity” are known even to schoolchildren. Both the military and the peaceful atom have firmly entered the life of mankind, even ordinary people have heard about the pros and cons of radioactive elements.

And for another 120 years, nothing was known about radioactivity. And those who expanded the field of human knowledge made discoveries at the cost of their own health.

Mother of Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Treaty of Sisters

November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, in the family teacher Vladislav Sklodovsky, a daughter was born, who was named Maria.

The family lived in poverty, the mother suffered from tuberculosis, the father fought with all his might for her life, at the same time trying to raise the children.

Such a life did not promise great prospects, but Maria, the first student in the class, dreamed of becoming a woman scientist. And this was at a time when even girls from wealthy families were not allowed into science, believing that this was exclusively the business of men.

But before dreaming about science, it was necessary to get a higher education, and the family did not have money for this. And then the two Sklodowski sisters, Maria and Bronislava, conclude an agreement - while one is studying, the second is working to provide for two. Then it will be the turn of the second sister to provide for a relative.

Bronislava entered the medical school in Paris, and Maria worked as a governess. Wealthy gentlemen who hired her would laugh for a long time if they knew what dreams this poor girl had in her head.

In 1891, Bronislava became a certified doctor, and kept her promise - 24-year-old Maria went to Paris, to the Sorbonne.

Science and Pierre

There was only enough money for a small attic in the Latin Quarter, and for the most modest food. But Maria was happy, immersed herself in her studies. She received two diplomas at once - in physics and mathematics.

In 1894, while visiting friends, Maria met Pierre Curie, head of the laboratory at the Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry, who has a reputation as a promising scientist and ... misogynist. The second was not true: Pierre ignored women not because of hostility, but because they could not share his scientific aspirations.

Maria struck Pierre on the spot with her mind. She also appreciated Pierre, but when she received a marriage proposal from him, she answered with a categorical refusal.

Curie was dumbfounded, but it was not about him, but about the intentions of Mary herself. As a girl, she decided to devote her life to science, renouncing family ties, and after completing her higher education, continue working in Poland.

Pierre Curie. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Friends and relatives urged Maria to change her mind - in Poland at that time there were no conditions for scientific activity, and Pierre was not just a man, but perfect couple for a female scientist.

Mysterious "rays"

Maria learned to cook for her husband, and in the fall of 1897 she gave birth to his daughter, who was named Irene. But she was not going to become a housewife, and Pierre supported his wife's desire for active scientific work.

Even before the birth of her daughter, Maria in 1896 chose the topic of her master's thesis. She was interested in the study of natural radioactivity, which was discovered by the French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel.

Becquerel placed a salt of uranium (potassium uranyl sulfate) on a photographic plate wrapped in thick black paper and exposed it for several hours sunlight. He found that the radiation passed through the paper and affected the photographic plate. This seemed to indicate that the uranium salt emitted X-rays even after irradiation. sunlight. However, it turned out that the same phenomenon occurred without irradiation. becquerel, observed the new kind penetrating radiation emitted without external irradiation of the source. The mysterious radiation began to be called "Becquerel rays".

Taking "Becquerel rays" as a research topic, Maria wondered if other compounds emit rays?

She came to the conclusion that in addition to uranium, thorium and its compounds emit similar rays. Maria introduced the concept of "radioactivity" to refer to this phenomenon.

Marie Curie with her daughters Eva and Irene in 1908. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Parisian miners

After the birth of her daughter, Maria, returning to research, discovered that tar blende from a mine near Joachimstal in the Czech Republic, from which uranium was mined at that time, had a radioactivity four times higher than uranium itself. At the same time, the analyzes showed that there was no thorium in the resin blende.

Then Maria put forward a hypothesis - in the resin blende there is an unknown element in extremely small quantities, the radioactivity of which is thousands of times stronger than uranium.

In March 1898, Pierre Curie set aside his research and concentrated entirely on his wife's experiences, as he realized that Marie was on the verge of something revolutionary.

On December 26, 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie made a report to the French Academy of Sciences, in which they announced the discovery of two new radioactive elements - radium and polonium.

The discovery was theoretical, and in order to confirm it, it was necessary to obtain the elements empirically.

Calculations showed that in order to obtain elements, it would be necessary to process tons of ore. There was no money for a family or for research. Therefore, the old barn became the place of processing, and chemical reactions carried out in huge vats. Analyzes of substances had to be done in a tiny, poorly equipped public school laboratory.

Four years of hard work, during which the couple regularly received burns. For chemical scientists, this was a common thing. And only later it became clear that these burns are directly related to the phenomenon of radioactivity.

Radium sounds trendy. And expensive

In September 1902, the Curies announced that they had succeeded in isolating one-tenth of a gram of radium chloride from several tons of uranium resin blende. They failed to isolate polonium, as it turned out to be a decay product of radium.

In 1903, Marie Skłodowska-Curie defended her thesis at the Sorbonne. At the award of the degree, it was noted that the work was the greatest contribution ever made to science by a doctoral dissertation.

In the same year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Becquerel and the Curies "for their study of the phenomenon of radioactivity discovered by Henri Becquerel." Marie Curie became the first woman to receive a major science award.

True, neither Maria nor Pierre was at the ceremony - they were sick. They associated their increased ailments with a violation of the regimen of rest and nutrition.

The discovery of the Curie spouses turned physics upside down. Leading scientists took up the study of radioactive elements, which by the middle of the 20th century would lead to the creation of first the first atomic bomb, and then the first power plant.

And at the beginning of the 20th century, there was even a fashion for radiation. In radium baths and drinking radioactive water, they saw almost a panacea for all diseases.

Radium had an extremely high cost - for example, in 1910 it was estimated at 180 thousand dollars per gram, which was equivalent to 160 kilograms of gold. It was enough to get a patent to completely close all financial problems.

But Pierre and Marie Curie were idealists from science and refused the patent. True, with money they still became much better. Now they were willingly allocated funds for research, Pierre became a professor of physics at the Sorbonne, and Maria took over as head of the laboratory of the Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry.

Eva Curie. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

"This is the end of everything"

In 1904, Maria gave birth to a second daughter, who was named Eve. Seemed like years ahead happy life and scientific discoveries.

It all ended tragically and absurdly. On April 19, 1906, Pierre was crossing the street in Paris. Was rainy weather, the scientist slipped and was hit by a cargo horse-drawn carriage. Curie's head fell under the wheel, and death was instantaneous.

This was terrible blow for Mary. Pierre was everything to her - husband, father, children, like-minded person, assistant. In her diary, she writes: "Pierre sleeps his last sleep underground ... this is the end of everything ... everything ... everything."

In her diary, she would refer to Pierre for many years to come. The cause to which they devoted their lives became an incentive for Mary to move on.

She rejected the offered pension, saying that she was able to earn a living for herself and her daughters.

The faculty council of the Sorbonne appointed her to the chair of physics, which was previously headed by her husband. When Skłodowska-Curie gave her first lecture six months later, she became the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne.

Shame on the French Academy

In 1910, Marie Curie succeeded in collaboration with André Debierne isolate pure metallic radium, and not its compounds, as before. Thus, a 12-year cycle of research was completed, as a result of which it was undeniably proved that radium is an independent chemical element.

After this work, she was nominated for election to the French Academy of Sciences. But here there was a scandal - conservative academics were determined not to let a woman into their ranks. As a result, Marie Curie's candidacy was rejected by a margin of one vote.

This decision began to look especially shameful when, in 1911, Curie received her second Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry. She became the first scientist to win the Nobel Prize twice.

The price of scientific progress

Marie Curie headed the institute for the study of radioactivity, during the First World War she became the head of the Red Cross Radiology Service, dealing with the equipment and maintenance of portable X-ray machines for transilluminating the wounded.

In 1918, Maria became scientific director of the Radium Institute in Paris.

In the 1920s, Marie Skłodowska-Curie was an internationally recognized scientist who was considered an honor by the leaders of world powers. But her health continued to deteriorate rapidly.

Many years of work with radioactive elements led to the development of aplastic radiation anemia in Maria. The detrimental effects of radioactivity were first studied by scientists who began research on radioactive elements. Marie Curie died on July 4, 1934.

Maria and Pierre, Irene and Frederic

The daughter of Pierre and Maria Irene repeated the path of her mother. After graduating, she first worked as an assistant at the Radium Institute, and from 1921 began to engage in independent research. In 1926 she married a colleague, assistant of the Radium Institute Frederic Joliot.

Frederic Joliot. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Frederick was to Irene what Pierre was to Mary. The Joliot-Curies managed to discover a method that allows the synthesis of new radioactive elements.

Marie Curie just a year did not live to see the triumph of her daughter and son-in-law - in 1935, Irene Joliot-Curie and Frederic Joliot were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the synthesis of new radioactive elements." In the opening speech on behalf of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences K. V. Palmeyer reminded Irene of how she attended a similar ceremony 24 years ago when her mother received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. “In cooperation with your husband, you continue this brilliant tradition with dignity,” he said.

Irene Curie and Albert Einstein. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Irene shared the last fate of her mother. From prolonged work with radioactive elements, she developed acute leukemia. Nobel Prize winner and Chevalier of the Legion of Honor Irene Joliot-Curie died in Paris on March 17, 1956.

Decades after the death of Marie Skłodowska-Curie, things related to her are stored in special conditions and are not available to ordinary visitors. Her scientific notes and diaries still contain levels of radioactivity dangerous to others.