Transcript Madame Marie Curie - 6th Grade Science :: Home

Madame Marie Curie
&
The Science of Radioactivity
By Claire Goelst
Early Life
•Born on November 7,
1867 in Warsaw,
Poland
•Given name was
Marya Sklodowska,
but her family and
friends called her
“Little Manya”
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
Schooling
•Graduated high
school when she
was 15
• In 1891 she
enrolled at the
Sorbonne in
Paris as “Marie”
and graduated in
1893
Pierre
• She married Pierre Curie in July 1895
Thesis Work
•She decided that
her thesis for her
doctorate would
be on Henri
Becquerel’s
mysterious “xrays” that are
given off by
uranium
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
Uranium Continued
•Marie discovered
that there was
something going on
inside the atom that
created the rays, she
named this effect
“radioactivity”
Radioactivity
•She discovered
that the only
known elements
that were
radioactive were
uranium and
thorium
Polonium
•Pierre stopped his
work on crystals to
work with Marie
•Marie continued
her work, but with
a different
substance,
pitchblende
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
Radium
•In January of
1899 another new
element was
discovered that
was over 1 million
times more
radioactive than
uranium, it was
named radium
Radium Continued
•In 1910 Marie
isolated pure
radium metal
•Her major
studies showed
that radium
gave out light
and heat, as
well as being
able to damage
living flesh
Radium cont.
•In order to
obtain one
decigram of
pure radium
chloride salt,
Marie had to
sift through
hundreds of
tons of
pitchblende
Properties of Radium
•Radium is
silver-white in
color
•Today it is used
in small amounts
as a cancer
treatment and in
fluorescent
paint
Pierre’s Death
•Pierre Curie was killed
tragically by a horse-drawn
cart in 1906
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
Paris Radium Institute
•In 1907 Marie
convinced the
French
government to
fund a radium
research
institute, to be
used mainly for
medical research
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
Health cont.
•In 1911 Marie
collapsed from
depression and
severe kidney
problems that
were a result
of her longtime exposure
to radium
Radium Institute cont.
•In August 1914 the Radium
Institute was finished, and named
after Marie’s deceased husband
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
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
X-ray Mobiles
•Marie decided
that there
should be x-ray
machines that
the war doctors
could use on the
battle field for
soldiers
X-ray mobiles cont.
•Marie created 20 mobile x-ray
machines and over 200 stationary
machines
Radon
•Marie also invented
tiny glass tubes that
were filled with
radon ( a radioactive
gas)
Radon cont.
•Doctors would insert the tubes in
patients at spots where the radiation
would destroy diseased tissue
After the War
•After the War ended in 1918
Marie spent a lot of time with her
two daughters Irene and Eve
After the War cont.
•After two or
three years with
her daughters
she resumed her
work with radium
at the Paris
institute
Declining Health
•Marie had
been
working at
the radium
institute in
good health
for almost
12 years
•She began
to notice
burns on
her hands
and her
failing
eyesight
somewhere
around
1932
Late Life
•Marie’s blood had been weakened by
her constant exposure to radium
•This caused her to catch aplastic
anemia
Late Life cont.
•Marie eventually contracted
leukemia and died on July 14,
1934
Awards
•Marie was
awarded
numerous small
awards during
her life such as
having her
picture placed
on a stamp!
Awards cont.
•Marie was awarded
the Nobel prize in
physics in 1903 for
her work with Xrays
•She was also
awarded the Nobel
prize in chemistry
in 1911 for her work
with radium
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.
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. 2003 ed.
Bibliography cont.
•Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity.
2000. American Institute of Physics.
28 April ,2005
<http://www.aip.org/history/curie/>
•Marie Sklodowska-Curie. 30 April,2005.Wikipedia.
May 1, 2005. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Marie_Sklodowska_Curie>