MARIA CURIE
(1867—1934)
Maria Curie was born in Warsaw on the 7th of November, 1867. Her father was a teacher of science and mathematics in a school in the town, and from him little Maria Sklodovska — which was her Polish name — learnt her first lessons in science. Maria wanted to study at the Sorbonne in Paris, and after many years of waiting she finally left her native land for Paris in 1891.
In Paris Maria began a course of
hard study and simple living. She determined to work for two Master's degrees
— one in physics, the other in mathematics. So she had to work twice as hard as
any other student. Yet she did not have enough money to live on, and soon her
strength was weakened, because she had no proper food and warmth. She lived in
a small room in the poorest part of Paris. Night after night, after her hard
day's work at the University, she would climb to her poorly furnished room and
work at her books for hours. Her meals were poor, sometimes no more than a few
cherries, which she ate as she studied. Though she was often weak and ill under
this hard life, she worked in this way for four years. Nothing could turn her
from the way she had chosen.
Among the many scientists Maria met
and worked with in Paris was one — Pierre Curie. Pierre Curie, born in 1859 in
Paris, was the son of a doctor, and from his childhood he was interested in
science.
At sixteen he was a Bachelor of
Science, and he took his Master's degree in physics when he was eighteen. When
he met Maria Sklodovska he was thirty-five years old and was already famous in Europe
for his discoveries in magnetism. But in spite of the honour he had brought to
France by his discoveries, the French Government could only give him a very
small salary, and the University of Paris refused him a laboratory of his own
for his research work.
Pierre Curie and Maria Sklodovska
loved science more than anything else. Very soon they became the closest
friends. They always worked together and discussed the many problems of their
work. After a little more than a year they fell in love with each other, and in
1895 Maria Sklodovska became Madame Curie.
By this time Maria Curie had got
her Master's degree in physics and mathematics, and was busy with research on
steel. She now wanted to get a Doctor's degree.
For some time Pierre and Maria
Curie were interested in £ the work of a French scientist named
Becquerel. There is a met a called uranium which, as Becquerel discovered,
emits rays I very much like X-rays. These rays made marks on a photo-graphic
plate when it was covered in black paper. The Curies kept wondering about these
rays of uranium. There were many questions that puzzled Maria Curie and her
husband. Here, they decided, was the subject for Maria's Doctor's thesis.
The research was carried out under
great difficulty. Madame Curie had to use an old store-room at the University
as her laboratory — she was refused a better room. Here it was cold, there was
no proper apparatus and the room was too small for research work. But Maria
Curie had to make the best of it. Soon she discovered that the mysterious rays
of uranium were much more peculiar than she believed. They were like no other
known rays.
Maria Curie began to examine every
known chemical body. After repeating her experiments time after time she found
that a mineral called pitchblende emitted much more powerful rays than any she
had found.
As Maria Curie had examined every
known chemical element and none of them had emitted such powerful rays as
pitchblende, she could only decide that this mineral must contain some new
element. Here was a mystery. Scientists had said that every element was
already, known to them. But all Maria Curie's experiments proved one thing.
Pitchblende must contain some new and unknown element. There was no other
explanation for the powerful rays which it emitted. Scientists call the
property of giving out such rays 'radio-activity', and Madame Curie decided to
call the new element 'radium', because it was more strongly radio-active than
any known metal.
Madame Curie-Sklodovska died in
1934. She was the leading woman scientist, the greatest woman of her time and
was the first person who received the Nobel Prize twice.
1. Read the text ‘Maria Curie’ and
write out the sentences which you think contain its main ideas.
2. Read the text and speak about :
1)
the condition in which the Curies worked;
2)
Maria Curie’s life I France;
3)
Pierre Curie, a famous scientist.
3.
Tell the class about the main ideas of the text.
4.
Say what you have learnt about Maria Curie.
5. Speak about any famous woman that you know.