
Becquerel discovered that uranium emitted rays. Marie furthered the research of French Physicist Henri Becquerel. This changed when Marie developed a theory about uranium rays. At first, Marie and Pierre worked alone, focusing on their own projects. He didn’t, but they married a year later. A mutual colleague believed Pierre had access to such a space. After graduating from the Sorbonne, Marie was looking for a large laboratory space. Marie earned her master’s degree in Physics in 1893, and a mathematics degree the following year. She had very little money, and survived on buttered bread and tea. In 1891, Marie enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.
RADIUM MARIE CURIE SERIES
This was a series of informal classes held in secrecy that admitted female students. Marie was ten years old.īarred from attending the University of Warsaw, Marie instead attended the Flying University. Her mother operated a boarding school for girls, but died from tuberculosis in 1878.

Her father was a mathematics and physics teacher. It begins on November 7th, 1867, when Maria Salomea Skłodowska was born in modern-day Poland.
RADIUM MARIE CURIE MOVIE
Set to be released by Amazon Studios in 2020, the movie begins at the end of Curie’s life. The movie chronicles the radioactive discoveries of the Curies, and their passionate romance. Radioactive stars Rosamund Pike and Sam Riley as Marie and Pierre Curie, respectively. If you want to see Radioactive-the upcoming Marie Curie biopic-you only need to buy a ticket. If you want to hold her notebooks, you will need to sign a waiver and wear protective clothing. Like their author, these manuscripts are in lead-lined boxes. Her original notebooks, for example, are in France’s National Library, in Paris. Marie Curie, 1920Įven Marie’s belongings-papers, furniture, cookbooks-are still radioactive. The Panthéon took precautions when interring the woman who coined radioactivity, discovered two radioactive elements, and brought X-rays to the frontlines of World War I. Now, more than 80 years since her death, the body of Marie Curie is still radioactive. Marie was the first woman to join them.īut before visitors could pay their respects, she needed a lead-lined coffin. The Curies joined some of France’s most distinguished men-Voltaire, Rousseau, Zola, Hugo. Then, in 1995, France re-interred Marie and Pierre in their national mausoleum: the Panthéon. The first time was in the same cemetery where her husband Pierre and in-laws laid to rest. Marie Curie died on July 4, 1934, at the age of sixty six.įrance interred her twice. In 1934, she developed aplastic anemia, and her body stopped producing new blood cells. At the expense of her own health, Marie’s efforts protected others from dangerous exposure to radiation. She firmly believed that only trained personnel should handle radioactive materials. In her own laboratory, Marie tested her researchers’ blood counts. She advocated lead screens and blood tests for those working with radioactive materials. Marie, unfortunately, lived in a time where the hazards of radiation were not taken seriously.īut Marie was not ignorant to radiation’s dangers.

We understand today that exposure to radiation can be harmful to the lens of the eyes.

The first female professor hired at Paris’ elite Sorbonne had to write her lecture notes in huge letters and rely on her daughters to guide her around campus. In 1920, Marie Curie developed cataracts.
