The Curies

The pioneers who explored the science of RADIOACTIVITY

Marie and Pierre Curie, and their daughter Irène, researched radiation, blazing trails in the fields of medicine and nuclear physics.

By the way… My notebooks are radioactive. They’re too dangerous to touch and are kept in lead-lined boxes, which trap the radiation.

Marie Curie

Born in Poland, Marie Curie was taught physics and mathematics by her father. For further studies, she moved to Paris,

France, where she met and married

French physicist Pierre Curie. The Curies worked on RADIOACTIVITY, and in 1898, they discovered two radioactive elements – polonium and radium. For this work, they received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics.

What came after…

In 1928, the GeiGer counter was invented by German physicist Hans Wilhelm Geiger to measure radiation.

It produces a “click” when radioactivity is detected. Before he met Marie, Pierre Curie researched crystals and magnetism. He showed that a substance’s magnetic properties change at a certain temperature, a level now called the CURIE POINT. He joined Marie’s radioactive research a few years after they married.

Food irradiation is the process of exposing food to safe levels of radiation to extend its shelf life. Depending on the dose, the radiation will kill some or all bacteria, moulds, and insects.

After Pierre was killed in a road accident in 1906, Marie continued their radioactivity research by herself. During World War I, she developed mobile X-ray units that could be used near the battlefront. With her teenage daughter Irène, she worked close to the frontline, X-RAYING INJURED SOLDIERS.

Marie Curie even drove an ambulance equipped with X-ray apparatus during World War I.

Irène Curie

Marie Curie sparked Irène’s interest in research when she taught her as a child. Years later, building on her parents’ work, Irène Curie and her husband Frédéric Joliot discovered how to artificially produce radioactive versions of elements. The pair received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 1938, she studied the action of neutrons on heavy metals, which led to the discovery of NUCLEAR FISSION (the process of splitting apart an atom’s nucleus to harness its energy).

Did you know? Marie Curie is the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice. She won the Prize in Chemistry in 1911.

How they changedthe world

Marie and Pierre’s research proved crucial in the use of radium to fight cancer, while Irène’s discovery led to great progress in medical treatments and nuclear physics.

Many smoke detectors contain a radioactive material called americium-241. Smoke particles disrupt the electric current produced by this material, triggering the device’s alarm.

Nuclear power plaNts use heat generated by nuclear fission to boil water, producing steam. This steam drives giant turbines connected to generators, producing electricity.