preview

Marie Curie and The Discobery of Radim and Plonium Essay

Good Essays

Marie Curie... She is best known for her discovery of radium and polonium and her work with radioactivity. She encountered times of adversity in her career just because she was a woman, but she met her challenges and overcame them. Marie Curie exceeded the barriers put on women in her time to become one of the world’s most famous scientists and used her knowledge to the benefit of humanity.
Marie Curie was breaking barriers even when she was young. Marya Salomee Sklodowska was born on November 7, 1867 in Russia controlled Poland. From an early age, Sklodowska showed a great memory and exceptional intelligence. In Poland, not many institutions, including the University of Warsaw, welcomed women. She wanted so badly to further pursue an …show more content…

With her experiments, she became the first woman in France to get a doctorate. Curie decided to continue Henri Becquerel’s experiments with X-rays. She came up with the groundbreaking idea that the rays were actually an atomic property. The paper she wrote reporting her discoveries had to be presented through her professor because women weren’t allowed to address the Academy of Sciences. With this, she continued her work to find new elements. First, she found polonium, which is named for her home country, and then she discovered radium. Pierre and Marie’s greatest work was done in a run-down shed. They worked from 1898 to 1902. The Curies could have made a fortune if they patented their process of extracting and refining radium, but they decided share their knowledge with the world.
Marie Curie became the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize when the Curies shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Becquerel in 1903 for their work with radioactivity. In the 1900s, women still had a relegated role in science. Marie Curie wasn’t allowed to speak with her husband on stage at the award ceremony and had to sit in the audience. Her mere presence was an affront to men. Some members of the Nobel Prize committee even considered not including her in the prize at all, despite the fact that she was largely responsible for the discovery.
She would later win a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, in 1911 for discovering the elements radium and polonium and

Get Access