Marie Curie: Most Influential Female Scientists

Sierra Russell
Dr. Sharfstein
NENG – 114 Extra Credit
8 December 2015 One of the most influential woman scientists in history is Marie Curie, she is also one of the most important scientists overall. In the photograph taken in October of 1927 at the Fifth Solvay International Conference on Electrons and Photons, Marie Curie sat with other great figures of science. This included Albert Einstein, Max Planck, and Neils Bohr. Marie Curie made great accomplishments in the world of science, and gained the respect of her peers. To this day she is still looked upon as a role model for future scientists, and is respected by all. Marie Curie was born to Bronislawa Sklodowski and Vladislav Sklodowski as Marie Sklodowski, and was the youngest of
Marie was originally going to study back in Poland, but that failed, so she returned to Paris and continued her studies. She soon received her doctorate, as did Pierre Curie in 1895. After their honeymoon, they moved into an apartment together, where they spent little time as they both dedicated their lives to their research. Marie continued to defy the typical Parisian female lifestyle, and went on to make great discoveries in the field of science and become the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
In 1898 Marie Curie wrote the article “Rays Emitted by Compounds of Uranium and of Thorium.” M. Lippmann presented this article in 1898, and was translated by Carmen Giunta. This article discusses whether or not uranium rays influence the air to be conductive, which was discovered by M. Becquerel (Curie, 94). Curie’s article also examines if air could be made into a conductor of electricity by substances other than
After testing the samples, Curie then created a table with the values of the current created by each. In this table it is shown that uranium containing some carbon creates a current of 24x10-12. Curie observed that “All the uranium compounds studied are active, and are, in general, more active to the extent that they contain ore uranium” (Curie, 95). She also observed that thorium compounds are extremely active, and that thorium oxide surpasses the activity of metallic uranium. Curie noticed that the two elements with the largest atomic weights are also the most active.
Through this research, Curie also came to realize that two specific minerals are more active than uranium itself. These two minerals were pitchblende and chalcolite, both minerals of uranium. This observation suggested that those minerals could possibly contain an element that is more active than uranium (Curie,