The Radioactive Pioneer

erudite .
Aug 31, 2021
4 min read

By Oriana Tolentino

Who was Marie Curie?

Marie Curie, whose real name is Marya Salomee Sklodowska, was born in the Polish capital on November 7, 1867. She was known to carry test tubes filled with radioactive materials in the pockets of her laboratory coat which may have contributed to her declining health condition and ultimately her death on July 4, 1934, in France. To this day, she is still emitting dangerous radioactive rays. That is why she was buried twice, with her second coffin lined with lead!

During her time, the universities in Russian-controlled Poland refused to accept women into their course programs. Therefore, Curie was unable to obtain higher education in Poland due to her gender. She left the country with her older sister, Bronya, in pursuit of greater knowledge, away from the unreasonable discrimination. Since they did not have enough funds to support both of their educations, the sisters had an agreement that Curie would support Bronya’s medical school journey in Paris through working as a governess. After a few years, Bronya would in turn do the same for Curie.

Curie went on to enroll in Sorbonne University, where she studied physics and mathematics. Upon registration, she wrote her name as “Marie” to seem more French. As expected, her great intellect enabled her to become the top of her class and to receive a prestigious scholarship.

In the same university, Curie met Pierre through a research project arranged by her professor. They were then married in 1895.

What were her discoveries that changed the scientific world forever?

Henri Becquerel, a French physicist, was the first person to discover proof of radioactivity. He served as an inspiration for Marie Curie and her husband to study and research more on this subject. When they removed the uranium from the ore, they found out that the remnants exhibited higher activity than pure uranium. They then deduced that there are more radioactive elements present within the ore.

The couple collaboratively developed a procedure to repeatedly separate parts in order to find the unknown element and measure its radioactivity. They isolated the pure elements by pulverizing the pitchblende and dissolving these in an acid solution. Therefore, they were able to detect two new radioactive elements: radium and polonium. It took more than three years to isolate a very minimal amount of pure radium salts (about one-tenth of a gram).

Her breakthroughs do not just stop there! Marie Curie also constructed portable x-ray machines which were called “petites Curies”. This allowed the accessibility of these machines near the battlefront during World War I which provided the much-needed diagnoses of the soldiers’ wounds. With this, the surgeons were able to operate more accurately as they would already know where to extract the bullets from the body. Curie advocated for this technology and set up a program to train medical professionals on how to operate such in order to save more lives.

Summary of Achievements:

Discovered radium and polonium
Became the first female professor at Sorbonne University
Held an executive position of Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of the Philippines
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 (shared with Becquerel) and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1911)

Became the first woman to win Nobel prizes in Physics and Chemistry
Became the first individual to win two Nobel prizes

What is Pitchblende?

Pitchblende, also known as uraninite, is a black mineral containing uranium oxides like UO₂ and UO₃. This is the material that allowed the discovery of numerous elements because it is composed of various radioactive elements like Marie Curie’s radium and polonium. The name can be divided into 2 words: pitch (which referred to its black color) and blende (derived from some German miners’ belief that this is a blend of several metals)

What is Radium?

Radium has a symbol of Ra, an atomic number of 88, and an atomic weight of 226. It is the heaviest known alkaline earth metal. The name is derived from the Latin word of “radius” or “ray” since the radioactive rays emitted by it were far greater than that of uranium. Although radium releases alpha particles which are capable of destroying cancerous cells at a quicker rate than healthy cells, it is not commonly used in the medical setting as it is too expensive and difficult to acquire. It was initially used as the first cancer treatment.

What is Polonium?

Polonium has a symbol of Po, an atomic number of 84, and an atomic weight of 209. It is the heaviest metal among the chalcogens. It was named after Madame Curie’s home country, Poland. This element was utilized as poison in some assassinations of distinguished figures. It was also used to eliminate static electricity that is created by machine activities like rolling of paper.

Marie Curie once said, “I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.” This is true as her journey to become an icon in Science involved slow, painstaking processes that required much time and effort. Despite encountering challenges like sexism, she emerged triumphantly and showed the world that women can achieve great things too. She proved that women must not be denied opportunities to gain more intellect.

References:

The Radioactive Pioneer

Recent Posts

Comments