Clearly, Pierre and Marie were already au fait in radiation physics and the measurement of radioactivity.
In Paris, Curie promptly became acquainted with the state of the art of the 1895 fundamentals of chemistry, mainly analytical chemistry, working with Gustave Bémont, chef de travaux at the Ecole Municipale de Physique et Chimie de la ville de Paris. Kossakowski, hadn’t given me a sound grasp of analysis in Warsaw, I would have never separated out radium.” In Poland, Curie also studied with Napoleon Milicer (a pupil of Robert Bunsen) and Ludwik Kossakowski. In this lab, she learned qualitative and quantitative chemical analysis, studied the chemistry of minerals, and gained practice in various chemical procedures. A year before attending the Sorbonne in Paris, she worked in the laboratory of the Warsaw Museum of Industry and Agriculture, which was headed by Professor Józef Jerzy Boguski, a former assistant of Dymitri Ivanovich Mendeleev in St. Curie received a thorough education in chemistry in Poland before graduating with degrees in physics and mathematics from the La Sorbonne, Paris, in 18. Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 1911 Marie Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements polonium and radium, by the isolation of radium, and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element.” Her scientific stature was now at the level of her friends Jean Perrin, Paul Langevin, Henri Poincare, Albert Einstein, and many others who renewed the sciences of physics and chemistry at the beginning of the 20th century. But physicists and chemists were still disputing the existence of “radioactivity” and the chemists on the Nobel Prize jury refused to mention the word “radium” in the heading of a Nobel Prize in Physics. Pierre and Marie Curie had already announced, five years earlier, the discovery of the elements polonium and radium. The first time, she shared the third-ever Nobel Prize in Physics with Henri Becquerel and Pierre Curie half to Henri Becquerel for “the discovery of the spontaneous radioactivity” and half to Pierre and Marie Curie for “their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Henri Becquerel.” It is notable that in these statements that the word “radioactivity” is associated with the name of Henri Becquerel since the word was coined by Marie Curie in her doctorate, which was presented at the Sorbonne in 1903. She received the highest scientific recognition for her work twice: being awarded the Nobel Prize in 19.
Marie Curie is a legendary figure of science.
Let us point out, in a few words, why Marie Curie is so closely tied to the International Year of Chemistry. In addition, we are thankful for the contributions from guest editor Jerzy Kroh, a former student of one of Marie Curie’s coworkers-in essence a grandson-through-science of Marie Curie. We are very much grateful to Hélène Langevin-Joliot, granddaughter of Marie and Pierre Curie, who kindly agreed toĬoauthor the first article. In addition to the eminent specialists who contributed articles, this issue features two authors with firsthand knowledge of Marie Curie. The closely linked contributions to this issue merge the scientific and personal aspects of Marie Curie-the scientist and the woman-to offer a new perspective on her unique life. Produced under the direction of a French-Polish editorial board, the issue explores the impact of Marie Curie’s discoveries and personality on the development of modern chemistry, physics, and nuclear medicine. With this in mind, IUPAC has devoted this special issue of Chemistry International devoted entirely to Marie Curie. When the United Nations declared that 2011 would be the International Year of Chemistry, it did so in part because the year 2011 coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Madame Marie Curie-an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of women to science. Chemistry International - Newsmagazine for IUPACīy Guest Editors Robert Guillaumont, Jerzy Kroh, Stanislaw Penczek, and Jean-Pierre Vairon