Life of a Great Physicist

1. Life of a Great Physicist Marie Curie

2. Early Life and education • Born: November 7, 1867 - Warsaw, Poland. Nee Maria Sklodowska, her parents were both educators who fostered an interest in science early in the lives of their 5 children-Zofia, Jozef, Bronislawa & Helena • After completing her secondary education at age 15, she was barred from admission to the University of Warsaw where her brother Jozef had enrolled. • She instead joined the students at the ‘Floating University’, a clandestine institution that held classes in private homes. Women had no other recourse to a college education in Poland at the time, but some of the best Polish minds taught secret courses there. The school’s existence was a secret kept from the Russian authority of the time.

3. Despite the limitations of an education pursued in such adverse circumstances and her poor grasp of French, Maria-Marie after emigrating to France-earned her Master’s degree in Physics in 1893, having arrived in France in the fall of 1891. • Her search for lab space at the Sorbonne resulted in her encounter with her future husband-Pierre. • They were married in 1895

4. The Curies &Radioactivity

5. "The fact is very remarkable, and leads to the belief that these minerals may contain an element which is much more active than uranium."-Marie Curie • This was Marie Curie’s critical observation of the especially active nature of pitchblende. Using an electrometer that Pierre had constructed 15 years earlier, she observed (as had others) that pitchblende was 4X more active than Uranium itself. Postulating that this indicated the presence of a NEW element was her stroke of genius (or one of them). • Pierre, unlike the physics community at large, saw that genius and together they embarked on the deadly and difficult task of dividing the pitchblende into its constituent elements.

6. New Elements This is Pitchblende, the compound from which Polonium and Radium were extracted

7. Extraction of Polonium & Radium • Polonium, also called Radium F, was discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie. • It was named after Curie’s home country Poland in hopes of alerting the world that it was still under the powers of Russia, Prussia, and Austria. • After removing Uranium and Thorium, the pitchblende was more reactive than both put together. After this event, Marie and her husband went looking for more elements. This led to the separation of Polonium from the pitchblende

8. Pitchblende refers to a "brown to black mineral that consists of massive Uraninite, has a distinctive luster, contains radium, and is the chief ore-mineral source of uranium" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) • Due to its chemical similarities between Bismuth (a previously discovered element) the Polonium was relatively easy to identify and extract-as opposed to Radium which was extremely difficult to extract. No other Bismuth-similar (and no Bismuth whatever) was contained in the pitchblede, but Radium (which is chemically similar to Barium) had to be differentiated from Barium--both elements were found in the pitchblende.

9. The pitchblende studied by the Curies was obtained from Northern Bohemia, in the area that is now the Czech Republic • To obtain Radium the Curies employed a technique called differential crystalization. • Although Curie predicted its existence in 1898, it was not isolated as a pure metal until 1902. Through electrolysis, a Radium-chloride solution was distilled. • This was done using a mercury cathode in an atmosphere of Hydrogen gas • By this process the Curie’s were able to extract only one tenth of a gram of Radium-chloride from an entire ton of pitchblende.

10. Polonium: the figures • Po = Atomic Symbol • 84 = Atomic Number • 190 pm = Atomic Radius • 209 g*mol-1 = Atomic Weight • 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 6 = Electrons per Shell • 527 K = Melting Point • 1235 K = Boiling Point • 13 kJ* mol-1 = Heat of Fusion • 102.9 kJ* mol-1 = Heat of Vaporization • 2.898 years = Half Life of 208Po • 103 years = Half Life of 209Po • 138.37 days = Half Life of 210Po

11. 25 Isotopes are known : 194-218 • The maximum permissible body burden is .03 microcuries (6.8 x 10^-12 g for weight of particle) Uses of Polonium • Can be used as a lightweight heat source for thermoelectric power in space satellites • Can be mixed or alloyed with Beryllium to provide a source of neurons • Can be used on brushes for removing dust from photographic films

12. Radium: the figures • Atomic symbol: Ra • Atomic number: 88 • Atomic weight:226g·mol−1 • Electrons per shell: 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 8, 2 • Melting point: 973k • Boiling point: 2010k • Heat of fusion: 8.5 kJ·mol−1 • Heat of vaporization: 113 kJ·mol−1 • Half life of 226Ra: 1602y • Half life of 228Ra: 6.7y • Radium has 25 known isotopes of which only 4 are found in nature

13. Involvement in WWI “I am resolved to put all my strength at the service of my adopted country, since I cannot do anything for my unfortunate native country just now…” --letter from Marie Curie to Paul Langevin, January 1, 1915 • Despite her lack of expertise with X-rays or with medical matters, Curie fought to provide the French military with mobile radiology units. • She and her daughter Irene were the radiology unit operators • The first unit was deployed in 1914

14. Awards and Accomplishments • Irene Juliot Curie (Marie’s daughter) was the first reported to have died from the radioactive affects from Polonium. She died 10 years after a capsule exploded on her lab bench of Leukemia.