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MARIE CURIE

The childhood of Marie Curie


Marie Sklodowska was born in Poland. Her parents were teachers. Her
father taught maths and physics and her mother was a headmistress at a
girls´ school. Growing up as the daughter of two teachers, Marie was taught
to read and write as an early age. She was a very clever girl and did well in
school. She had a good memory and did well in her exams.
Marie’s parents earned good money, however, during that time, Russia
ruled Poland and people were not allowed to read or write in Polish.
Because of this tough times, her father lost his job. Soon, the family
became so poor that they had to let out their house to student boarders.
When she was about twelve years old, Marie lost her mother and one of her
sisters. These sad events made Marie closer to her father and her siblings.
Marie Curie as a student
Marie was a very good student and was considered the smartest pupil in her
class. She wanted to get a degree like her brothers but because she was a
girl, she was not allowed to study at University .Therefore, she attended an
illegal school and became involved in a revolutionary student organization.
Because she did not want to have problems and be sent to prison, she left
Poland and went to Paris. She continued studying at the Sorbonne
University, where women could attend if they wanted to study. After a few
years, she got a degree in physics and mathematical Sciences.
In this university she met her husband, Pierre Curie, who was a professor of
physics.They fell in love and had children. When they married she became
better known as Marie Curie.
The elements discovered by Marie Curie

In 1903 Marie and Pierre Curie and Henry Becquerel won the Nobel Prize in
Physics for the discovery of radioactivity.

In 1911 Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of
radium and polonium. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize; and
she is the only woman to win this prize in two different fields, physics and
chemistry.
As there are only about a hundred natural elements in the universe,
discovering two is quite a big thing! She called them polonium, after her
home country of Poland, and radium because it was radioactive.

Radioactivity is a very good word and it was invented by Marie


Curie. Radioactivity is very useful for many reasons such as:

- treating cancer(kill cancer cells) or diseases


- pacemaker for the heart
- sterilization (method that kills bacteria)
- genetic improvement in agricultura
- spot the fake art
- determine the age of fossils
- atomic bomb
- make nuclear energy (to produce electricity). It is produced in
nuclear power station.

Radioactivity
Radioactivity is a feature that we can find in matter. All matter is made up
of elements and elements made of atoms. Most atoms are stable and they
do not change over time.
However, radioactive atoms change over time. These atoms are unstable
and try to be more stable. In the process, they give off energy in the form
of radiation. This process is called radioactivity.
An example of Radioactivity:

When there are too many protons in a nucleus. In this case the element will
give off (emit) radiation in the form of positively charged particles.

How did Marie Curie die?


Some types of radioactivity are harmful, because they can damage the
human body. If people get a lot of radioactivity, they could become ill with
radiation sickness. Radiation can cause mutations which can produce
cancer. The more radiation a person is exposed, the more dangerous it is.

Marie Curie worked a lot with radiation and she did not know that radiation
was dangerous, so she died because of it.
Now people who work with radiation have to wear special clothing and be
careful.

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