1. & The Science of Radioactivity
Madame Marie Curie
&
The Science of Radioactivity
By Claire Goelst

2. Early Life Born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland
Given name was Marya Sklodowska, but her family and friends called her “Little Manya”

3. Early Life cont. Her father was a professor of math and physics
Her mother was a pianist, singer, and teacher
Her mother died of tuberculosis when Marya was 11

4. Schooling Graduated high school when she was 15
In 1891 she enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris as “Marie” and graduated in 1893

5. Pierre
She married Pierre Curie in July 1895

6. Thesis Work
She decided that her thesis for her doctorate would be on Henri Becquerel’s mysterious “x-rays” that are given off by uranium

7. Work with Uranium
Discovered that if you have a certain amount of uranium, then you get a certain amount of ray intensity, no matter what you did to the material

8. Uranium Continued
Marie discovered that there was something going on inside the atom that created the rays, she named this effect “radioactivity”

9. Radioactivity
She discovered that the only known elements that were radioactive were uranium and thorium

10. Polonium Pierre stopped his work on crystals to work with Marie
Marie continued her work, but with a different substance, pitchblende

11. Polonium Cont.
In July 1898 they extracted a new element that was even more radioactive than uranium
They called this new substance polonium in honor of Marie’s homeland

12. Radium
In January of 1899 another new element was discovered that was over 1 million times more radioactive than uranium, it was named radium

13. Radium Continued
Her major studies showed that radium gave out light and heat, as well as being able to damage living flesh
In 1910 Marie isolated pure radium metal

14. Radium cont.
In order to obtain one decigram of pure radium chloride salt, Marie had to sift through hundreds of tons of pitchblende

15. Properties of Radium Radium is silver-white in color
Today it is used in small amounts as a cancer treatment and in fluorescent paint

16. Pierre’s Death
Pierre Curie was killed tragically by a horse-drawn cart in 1906

17. Teaching
It was decided that Marie should take over Pierre’s teaching job at the Sorbonne in 1906
This made Marie the 1st woman professor at any French university

18. Paris Radium Institute
In 1907 Marie convinced the French government to fund a radium research institute, to be used mainly for medical research

19. Health Problems
Marie believed that working with radium was not a danger to her health, however, doctors today have proven that she was very wrong

20. Health cont.
In 1911 Marie collapsed from depression and severe kidney problems that were a result of her long-time exposure to radium

21. Radium Institute cont.
In August 1914 the Radium Institute was finished, and named after Marie’s deceased husband

22. World War II
Shortly after the institute was finished, Germany invaded France
Marie’s staff was cut short to two people, herself and her daughter Irene

23. World War II cont.
Immediately after the War broke out Marie donated all of her money to the War fund, and signed up to be a nurse

24. X-ray Mobiles
Marie decided that there should be x-ray machines that the war doctors could use on the battle field for soldiers

25. X-ray mobiles cont.
Marie created 20 mobile x-ray machines and over 200 stationary machines

26. Radon
Marie also invented tiny glass tubes that were filled with radon ( a radioactive gas)

27. Radon cont.
Doctors would insert the tubes in patients at spots where the radiation would destroy diseased tissue

28. After the War
After the War ended in 1918 Marie spent a lot of time with her two daughters Irene and Eve

29. After the War cont.
After two or three years with her daughters she resumed her work with radium at the Paris institute

30. Declining Health
She began to notice burns on her hands and her failing eyesight somewhere around 1932
Marie had been working at the radium institute in good health for almost 12 years

31. Late Life
Marie’s blood had been weakened by her constant exposure to radium
This caused her to catch aplastic anemia

32. Late Life cont.
Marie eventually contracted leukemia and died on July 14, 1934

33. Awards
Marie was awarded numerous small awards during her life such as having her picture placed on a stamp!

34. Awards cont.
Marie was awarded the Nobel prize in physics in 1903 for her work with X-rays
She was also awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1911 for her work with radium

35. About Me!!!
Hi!I’m Claire! I like food-all kinds. And I like horses, chickens(yes a little odd I know), and talking!!!!!! I’m incredibly tall and I have red hair!!!! I have two sisters and one brother, they are all older than me. I especially like Chinese food and Mac n’ cheese.

36. Bibliography
“Marie Curie, Pierre Curie.” Scientists: The Lives and Works of 150 Scientists.1996 ed.
Tames,Richard.Marie Curie.New York:Franklin Watts Inc.,1989.
Stille,Darlene.Extraordinary Women Scientists. Chicago:Children’s Press,1995.
Notable Women Scientists.Farmington Hills,MI:the Gale Group,1999.
Shriver,Duward. ”Radium.”World Book Encyclopedia ed.

37. Bibliography cont.
Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity American Institute of Physics April , <
Marie Sklodowska-Curie. 30 April,2005.Wikipedia. May 1, < Marie_Sklodowska_Curie>