Marie Curie
illustration: Lizzy Stewart
We celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Marie Skłodowska-Curie, on the 7th November 2017.
As we all know, the pioneer scientist that became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize.
Marie Curie was a Nobel Laureate of many firsts: the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, the first person to be awarded the Prize twice and still the only person to receive the Prize in two different scientific fields.
She received the news that she was to be awarded her second Nobel Prize on her 44th birthday - a special present for a very impressive scientist.
Marie Curie 150 Years
Nobel Prize
Some bio notes:
Born in Warsaw, Poland, on the 7th November 1867, Maria Sklodowska (later better known by her married, Marie Curie) was the youngest of five children born of a secondary school teacher.
Her father, Wladyslaw, was a math and physics teacher who would greatly influence Curie’s career in science. Tragically, her mother, Bronislawa, died of tuberculosis when Marie was just ten years old.
Despite her obvious talent in school (being consistently the top performing student in her year) Curie would not be able attend the University of Warsaw. At the time, universities would not accept female students. How far we are now!
Moving to France in 1891 with her sister, Marie Curie was finally able to attain the formal education she desired at The University of Paris, the Sorbonne where she obtained Licenciateships in Physics and the Mathematical Sciences.
She met Pierre Curie, Professor in the School of Physics in 1894 and in the following year they were married.
Marie & Pierre Curie, 1904
The Curies began investigating radioactivity together in Paris, building on the work of physicists Wilhelm Roentgen and Henri Becquerel.
In 1898, the Curies announced the discovery of not one but two new chemical elements: polonium and radium. In 1903 the Curies and Becquerel would jointly be awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, making Marie Curie the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
She succeeded her husband as Head of the Physics Laboratory at the Sorbonne, gained her Doctor of Science degree in 1903, and following the tragic death of Pierre Curie in 1906, she took his place as Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences. The first time a woman had held this position.
Marie Curie with her daughter, Irène, & other researchers
in her laboratory at the Edith Cavell Hospital in 1914
When World War I broke out in 1914, Curie committed herself to the cause, developing mobile radiography units, which were known as Petites Curies, to help treat inured soldiers in the field.
She became the director of the Red Cross Radiology Service and set up France’s first military radiology center. She facilitated the installation of 20 of her “Little Curies” and another 200 radiological units at field hospitals in the first year of the war, and it's estimated that over a million wounded soldiers were treated with her X-ray units.
Marie curie book notes
via @wellcometrust
Tragically, since long-term effects of ionizing radiation were unknown, she took no precautions when working with her radioactive materials, and she is believed to have perished from a disease that resulted from the long-term exposure.
Marie Curie died of leukemia on 4 July 1934, as result of years of exposure to radiation through her work. Even today, her laboratory notebook from 1899-1902, is radioactive and will be for 1,500 years.
Marie Curie died of leukemia on 4 July 1934, as result of years of exposure to radiation through her work. Even today, her laboratory notebook from 1899-1902, is radioactive and will be for 1,500 years.
Marie Curie discovered radium and polonium, and she is remembered for her huge contribution to research into cancer. Her work continues to inspire research in the field to support people living with terminal illness, including terminal cancer.
Marie Curie is one of the most famous scientists of all time, her work having been crucial in the advancement of the fight against cancer, and is considered to be the “most inspirational woman in science”.
Education:
Marie Curie is the best example to young girls to study sciences at school and later as young women to continue their studies at college and research at university.
Marie Curie is the real proof that women must not be feared to choose scientific studies if they love science and will create a stunning career.
There are a good number of young women scientists doing research in scientific centers in many universities in the world.
Resources:
- Books:
Marie Curie Radioactivity
Connie Colwell Miller
illustrator: Scott Larson
Marie Curie Radioactivity, a graphic novel that tells the story of Marie Curie's discovery of radium and radioactivity.
Written in graphic novel format, this book follows the trail of discovery that led to important advances in medicine, but also the creation of the atomic bomb.
Experienced teachers know that the amount of reading their students does will have a direct and positive impact on his reading fluency and vocabulary development.
That is why graphic novels though once relegated to the category of lowbrow reading, are now experiencing a surge in popularity.
If one or two of your students are reluctant readers, graphic novels i introduce new vocabulary via contextual clues, making great classics in Literature be accessible to more children.
The interesting pictures and snappy dialogue, with little-to-no narration to bog the reader down, will encourage independent reading and learning. As the students' competence and confidence grow, so will his joy of literacy.
Students also will learn how the Curies' work led to their deaths through exposure to radiation.
Includes additional facts, glossary, appropriate Internet sites, recommended books and bibliography.
Includes additional facts, glossary, appropriate Internet sites, recommended books and bibliography.
Marie Curie
Elizabeth MacLeod
illustrations: John Mantha, 2009
This Level 3 reader contains longer, more complex stories and sentences, more challenging vocabulary, language play and minimal repetition.
Interesting books to invite students to read by including into Languages and Sciences curricula at school.
- Film:
Marie Curie
The Courage of Knowledge
Marie Noëlle, 2016
The film, a biopic follows the famous physicist and chemist Marie Curie and her struggle for recognition in the male-dominated science community in early 20th century France.
Marie Noëlle's portrait of the trailblazing Polish-French physicist and chemist emerges as an odd blend of, well, formulae, following a starchy biopic pattern one minute and giving in to impressionistic abstraction the next.
That her love life is rather more engagingly presented is perhaps inevitable, though having fought hard to be judged by male peers on her work rather than her womanhood, Curie wouldn’t be thrilled to hear it.
Guy Lodge, in Variety
Language: German
We all know that a film is always a personal view of a director even based on true stories and lives.
Films are always strong digital resources to include into school curricula. Students love biopics and a little romance in the air.
The Madame Curie Complex
The Hidden History of Women in Science
Julie des Jardins
https://www.amazon.com/
The Hidden History of Women in Science
Julie des Jardins
https://www.amazon.com/
Why are the fields of science and technology still considered to be predominantly male professions? The Madame Curie Complex moves beyond the most common explanations - limited access to professional training, lack of resources, exclusion from social networks of men - to give historical context and unexpected revelations about women's contributions to the sciences.
"Recent years have seen this idealized version of Curie challenged by less-celebratory interpretations. In Julie Des Jardins’s The Madame Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science, Curie is described as “a superhuman anomaly,” one who causes female scientists frustration by establishing unrealistic expectations of scientific accomplishment, rather than inspiring them to excel."
It's a different vision. But I know a good number of young women that are doing wonders in the field of scientific research.
Marie Curie
Famous Scientists
Other resources:
Google Doodle:
Mary Curie 144th Birthday (2011)
"Her life's work earned her two Nobel Prizes and solidified her place in history as an icon in physics and chemistry."
Google team
- Video: Documentary : Nobel website Marie Curie in her laboratory (no sound)
Marie Curie/ Famous Scientists here
Film review: Marie Curie The Courage of Knowledge: here
I realize that scientific discoveries are never due to just one person, but Marie Curie played a huge role in the discovery of radium and deserves a great recognition.
Curie is so inspirational, and not just to young women. The history of radium is an interesting one, especially since an element that was/is so dangerous and detrimental to living things was used so widely when first discovered.
"This work continues to inspire our charity's mission to support people living with terminal illness, including terminal cancer."
G-Souto
07.11.2017
Copyright © 2017G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®
Copyright © 2017G-Souto'sBlog, gsouto-digitalteacher.blogspot.com®
Schools & science : Marie Curie, the Nobel Prize : resources by G-Souto is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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