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 stay at home), Curie Maria 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, ridicule in their direction. Marie Curie was an amazing person. The biography below will convince you of this.
Origin
The woman's maiden name was Sklodowska. Her father, Vladislav Sklodovsky, graduated from St. Petersburg University in his time. 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 passionatereading lover. In total, the family had five children. Maria Sklodowska-Curie (Manya, as she was called in childhood) - 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. It now houses a museum.
The situation in Poland
Poland at that time was part of the 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 Catholic prayers in Russian, and not in their native language, in which they prayed and spoke at home. Vladislav often got upset because of this. Indeed, 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 all her future life, however, like the rest of the inhabitants of the state, torn apart at that time, was a fierce patriot, as well as a conscientious member of the Parisian Polish community.
Sisters' agreement
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 was impossible for women 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.
Working as a governess
Manya became a governess at the Pike estate, to the children of a we althy 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) left for Warsaw, enrolling in the 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 rightly be proud of his remaining children.
First Beloved
Five children were with Maria's employers. 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. Besides, what wasit was very unusual for a girl of that time, she ran on skates, handled the oars perfectly, 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 Maria, 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 enrolled in the Sorbonne, in the 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 topay less for a room - she wanted to study late and in silence. Its budget in 1892 was 40 rubles, or 100 francs per month, i.e. 3 and a half francs daily. 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.
Meet 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 beforeMarie was carried away by the fact 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 for their 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 Henri Becquerel, 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, fascinated by the mysterious phenomenon, decided to study it. Pierre set aside his work in order to help his wife.
First discoveries and Nobel Prizes
Pierre and Marie Curie discovered 2 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 uranium ore. Pierre and Marie Curie worked from morning to night in a slit shed, exposed to radiation. The couple were burned beforerealized the dangers of 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 s alt 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 husband
The 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
But life went on. The woman concentrated all her efforts on isolating radium metal in its pure form, 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. For this, they even wanted to accept her as a member of the French Academy of Sciences in the wake of great success, but debates unfolded, persecution began in the press, and as a result, male chauvinism won. In 1911, Marie was awarded the 2nd Nobel Prize, in chemistry. She became the first recipient to receive it twice.
Work at the Radiev Institute
The Radiev Institute was established for research into radioactivity shortly before the First World War began. Curie worked here in the field of basic research on radioactivity and its medical applications. 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 supplied portable X-ray machines to the front line. Irene, her daughter, was among the medical professionals she taught.
Last years of life
Even in her advanced years, Marie Curie continued her work. A brief 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 he alth 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
The chemical element curium (No. 96) was named after the Curies. 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 universities in Polandestablishments owned by the state. 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:
- Chemistry.
- Biology and biotechnology.
- Art.
- Humanities.
- Philosophy and sociology.
- Pedagogy and psychology.
- Earth sciences and spatial planning.
- Mathematics, physics and computer science.
- Rights and controls.
- Political Science.
- Pedagogy and psychology.
Marie Curie University has been chosen by more than 23.5 thousand students, of which about 500 are foreigners.
