Curie, Marie Sklodowska polonium isolated

Marie Curie, nee Sklodowska (Poland/France), for the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element. Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and she is still the only person to win in multiple sciences. Curie was a professor at the University of Paris (another first—she was the first woman on the faculty), beginning in 1900, and then at the Sorbonne in 1906 (again—she was the first female professor there). In 1903 she was awarded, along with her husband, Pierre Curie, and Antoine Henri Becquerel, the Nobel Prize in Physics for her work on radiation. In 1910, Marie isolated radium for the first time by electrolysis of radium chloride in the presence of hydrogen gas. This contribution was not enough for the French Academy of Sciences to elect her to their ranks, but a year later this accomplishment was recognized with Curie s second Nobel Prize. 

Almost immediately after the discovery of radioactivity, Marie Sklodowska Curie and Pierre Curie began more detailed studies of the new phenomenon. Guided by their observation that some natural uranium ores, such as pitchblende, were more highly radioactive than corresponded to their uranium content (Sklodowska Curie 1898), they fractionated the ores chemically, using the intensity of radioactivity in the fractions as evidence for further radioactive substances. The result was the discovery, in June 1898, of a new radioactive element in the bismuth fraction (Curie and Curie, 1898) the Curies named it polonium in honor of Marie s homeland. A few months later, in December 1898, they were able to report the discovery of another radioactive element, this one in the barium fraction separated from pitchblende (Curie et al. 1898) they named it radium. The subsequent isolation of radium from barium was accomplished by fractional crystallization of barium chloride, with radium chloride always being enriched in the crystalline phase. It soon became possible to characterize radium spectroscopically by optical emission lines (Demar9ay 1898) and, thus, to confirm the discovery by an independent identification. By 1902, M. Curie had isolated 120 mg of pure... 

Curie, Marie (nee Sklodowska) (1867-1934) Polish-born French physicist and wife of Pierre Curie, with whom she worked on magnetism and radioactivity, a term she invented in 1898. Her work on radioactivity earned her the Nobel Prize in physics in 1903. She isolated polonium and, in 1910, pure radium. For this work, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1911. She died from leukemia, a martyr to long exposure to radioactivity. 

Marie Sklodowska Curie, born in Warsaw, Poland, began her doctoral work with Henri Becquerel soon after he discovered the spontaneous radiation emitted by uranium salts.She found this radiation to be an atomic property and coined the word radioactivity for it. In 1903 the Curies and Becquerel were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for their discovery of radioactivity.Three years later, Pierre Curie was killed in a carriage accident.Marie Curie continued their work on radium and in 1911 was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the discovery of polonium and radium and the isolation of pure radium metal.This was the first time a scientist had received two Nobel awards. (Since then two others have been so honored.)... 

FIGURE 7.3 Marie (Sklodowska) Curie (1867-1934) was a Polish-French scientist who shared a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for the discovery of radium and polonium and received another Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1911 for isolating and characterizing radium. She was the first woman to win a Nobel FMze and the only one of two to win in two different fields (Pauhng won in chemistry and peace). She also pioneered use of portable x-ray units for battle wounds in WWI. 

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