Page 176 - Essentials of physical chemistry

138 Essentials of Physical Chemistry

FIGURE 7.3 Marie (Sklodowska) Curie (1867–1934) was a Polish-French scientist who shared a Nobel Prize
in Physics in 1903 for the discovery of radium and polonium and received another Nobel Prize in chemistry in
1911 for isolating and characterizing radium. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only one of
two to win in two different fields (Pauling won in chemistry and peace). She also pioneered use of portable
x-ray units for battle wounds in WWI.

alpha particles. Prior to Marie’s second Nobel Prize in 1911 there was a controversy in the press
about her private life and only a few close friends stood by her but she was awarded the 1911 Prize
in chemistry. The entire story of her career and up-and-down relationship with the French press is
detailed in a balanced way in Ref. [3]. In Figure 7.3, we see her without eye protection which may
be due to a photographic setting (although eye protection for laboratory chemists was optional until
recently). However, the old style wash bottle in her hand is the type where you put your mouth on
the input pipe to blow out wash water and that is hardly what one would use in a laboratory today
when working with almost any chemicals let alone radioactive materials. Thus, it is likely she was
not only exposed to radiation but also ingested small amounts of radioactive material. Many of these
early discoveries in physics and chemistry were considered wondrous but later proved to be
hazardous. Some personal anecdotes are that she hired a Polish-speaking nurse for her daughters
so they would learn Polish as well as French and her (radioactive) laboratory notebooks when last
examined showed patterns to make diapers. Because she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
and was beautiful, many people adored her, so a student will find many Internet sites with her
history. Perhaps because the discoveries were made in France and her daughter continued research
in radioactivity, France has a long history of using nuclear power for generation of electricity and
has one of the highest dependencies on nuclear power generation in the world (>70%). In 1995,
Francois Mitterrand, President of France, officiated as Marie and Pierre were reburied in the
Pantheon, the mausoleum of France’s most illustrious citizens.