Madame Curie
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One day in June, 1903, 1 1, the Royal Society of London, England, hanged the highest award of the Society-the Medal of David.
On the chest of the young couple, in recognition of their discovery of radium, a radioactive element that is extremely precious to human beings.
This young couple is the world-famous scientist Curie-pierre curie and his wife Curie.
People. The couple looked at the people who came to congratulate them and shed tears at the same time. People only know the discovery of this rare element.
Meaning, but who knows how much effort they have paid. Especially Madame Curie, she is not only the main discoverer of radium.
More importantly, she has a difficult course that others don't have.
Madame Curie1867165438+10 was born in Poland on October 7th, with the original name of Marie Skoro Dovska. Young Mad
Although Li comes from a poor family, he is very studious. 16 years old, she graduated from Warsaw Girls' High School with excellent results and obtained.
Get a gold medal. But at that time, Poland had been divided by Russia, Poland and Austria, and Polish women did not have the right to go to college. Family economic situation
Being poor and unable to study abroad, I had to be a tutor in the countryside for five years. In the meantime, she scrimped and saved.
I saved some money to study abroad.
189 1 In the winter, this young Polish woman embarked on a journey to Paris alone. Although the weather is fine at this time
Cold, but there is a fire of longing in this young woman's chest, because she is going to study at the famous Paris University soon.
Xi, this is the ideal that she has dreamed of and fought for for for many years. Now, her dream will come true. How can she not be excited?
So what!
After entering the Faculty of Science of Paris University, this poor Polish girl comes to class early every day and always sits at the top of the classroom.
First row, listen to the professor carefully. After class, besides eating, either go to the laboratory to do experiments or go to the map.
Reading in the library. Soon, he became the best student in his class and was highly valued by his teachers and respected by his classmates.
In life, Mary leads a very hard life because of financial difficulties. She rented a small and short room near the school.
Attic, enduring sultry summer and cold winter. In order to squeeze in time to study, I often eat ready-made paint without cooking for several days.
Bread and butter In order to save fuel at night, I went to the nearby library to read books and didn't go home until the library closed.
I lit a kerosene lamp and studied at my desk until two or three in the morning.
Due to long-term fatigue and malnutrition, Mary suffered from anemia. One day, she and a classmate just walked out of the classroom.
She suddenly felt dizzy and weak and fainted to the ground. The students present were shocked and rushed her to a nearby hospital.
Mary's brother-in-law is a doctor in this hospital. When he heard about it, Mary came in a hurry and he was already awake.
Mary checked at once and understood at once.
"What do you eat these days?" Brother-in-law asked.
"What to eat ... what to eat these days?" Mary answered at once.
"Is it really a meal? ! "My brother-in-law asked again.
Mary said nothing.
Later, my brother-in-law learned that in order to save money to buy necessary school supplies these days, Mary only eats one handful a day.
Radish and half a pound of cherries. At the same time, in order to catch up with homework, I sleep less than three hours a day.
In this way, the poor female student finally won the first prize in the summer of 1893 with her superhuman spirit of suffering.
Graduated from physics department with good grades and got a master's degree in physics. The following summer, he graduated from the Department of Mathematics with the second place.
Get a master's degree in mathematics.
After graduation, Mary wants to return to Poland to serve her motherland. But because I met Pierre, a like-minded French physicist.
Madame Curie decided to go on working. 1895, Marie married Madame Curie. Later, people called Marie Curie.
People. Just this year, the German scientist Roentgen discovered an X-ray that can penetrate solid matter. The next year, French things.
Becquerel, a philosopher, discovered that uranium minerals can emit wonderful rays similar to X-rays.
This wonderful light, for Mary, has great attraction and aroused her great interest. She thinks,
This is an excellent research topic. So he consulted with her husband Pierre.
"Although this topic is good, it is too difficult to study, even not easy," Pierre said with concern.
"I know," Mary laughed. "It is because it is difficult that I choose it!"
Looking at his wife's serious and firm face, Pierre said nothing and began to prepare for his wife.
After Pierre's repeated efforts, he borrowed a cold and wet workshop from the physics and chemistry school where he used to work.
I also put down the topic I was studying and worked with my wife. But the experimental conditions are so bad that it doesn't matter if the roof leaks.
The most troublesome thing is that there are too few instruments. But Madame Curie paid no attention to these external conditions at all, because she knew about scientific research.
It's more difficult than these. All she cares about is her research topic.
During the research, she found that not only uranium but also thorium can emit that strange light, which is Becker's discovery.
Light is much more intense than uranium. Therefore, she made a bold judgment: there is another substance that can emit light. It
New substances, that is, new elements that have not been discovered, exist in minerals only in a very small amount. Madame Curie named it.
"Radium", because in Latin, its original meaning is "radiation".
At that time, many scientists didn't believe it, thinking that the Curie couple was just a hypothesis, and some even said, "If there is, then."
Please extract this element and let us have a look! "
To extract radium, you need enough pitchblende, which is rare and expensive, but they don't exist at all.
Obtained by law. This incident later spread to Austria, and soon got the support of the Austrian government, giving them a ton of uranium that has been extracted.
The experiment of extracting pure radium started from asphalt slag.
After more than three years' efforts, the Curies finally extracted 0. 1 gram radium salt from 1902, and then preliminarily
The atomic weight of radium was determined. It is found that this element is 2 million times more radioactive than uranium, so no external force is needed.
Will naturally glow and heat.
The discovery of radium has caused great changes in science and even philosophy, and opened the door for human beings to explore the mysteries of the atomic world. can
In other words, its discovery opened up a new field of science, thus giving birth to a new radiology, such as radium.
Known as a "great revolutionary"
It is precisely because the Curies made great contributions to the scientific revolution that they won the Nobel Prize in Physics the following year.
Kim.
Soon after, people discovered the value of radium in medicine and brought good news to cancer patients, which made it no longer.
Radium, which is usually expensive, has become more precious. Someone persuaded the Curies to say, "If you apply for a patent, you will become a millionaire."
Weng! "
"No, radium is an element, it should belong to the whole world!" The curies did not hesitate to answer.
The Curies believed in "science knows no borders". It can also be said that this is their common ambition to devote themselves to science. but
Unfortunately, one day in April of 1906, pierre curie lost his precious life in a car accident. belong to
Mrs. Li fought back her grief and continued her scientific research. 19 10, Madame Curie successfully separated pure radium, which was divided into two parts.
Various properties of radium were separated, and its atomic weight was accurately determined. In the same year, Madame Curie attended the International Radiology Council.
At the meeting, the radioactive unit named after Madame Curie was formulated and the international standard of radium proposed by Madame Curie was adopted.
1920 in may, an American female journalist asked when she visited madame Curie, "if everything in the world left.
You choose, what do you want most? ""I really want to have a gram of pure radium for research. But its price is too high. I really want to buy it.
sorry "Madame Curie replied.
"Didn't you send radium worth millions of francs to the laboratory of Paris University?" The female reporter asked inexplicably.
"No, that's not mine. It belongs to the laboratory. "
Hearing these words, the reporter was deeply moved by the selfless spirit of the female doctor who devoted herself to science.
After she returned to the United States, she wrote many articles introducing the Curies and calling on the American people to carry out donation activities and give them to the Curies.
Madam, one gram of radium. In May of the following year, the President of the United States personally gave this gram of radium to Madame Curie in Washington. ..
On the eve of the gift ceremony, Madame Curie insisted on modifying the text on the gift certificate and declared again: "It was given by the United States.
My gram of radium should always belong to science, and can't be my personal private property. "
This great woman won two Nobel Prizes in her life. She is the first female professor at the University of Paris. She is French.
The first female academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, she was also hired as an academician of other 15 countries. She has been accepted by seven countries.
He won 24 awards and medals and held 104 honorary positions in 25 countries. 1934 July 4th, Benwei
The great scientist passed away, but her spirit will inspire future generations forever!
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