The Life and Work of Marie Curie

Useful Vocabulary
• Radioactive
 Useful Vocabulary
• Element
Useful Vocabulary
 Useful Vocabulary
• Prodigious = vast,
immense, great

• Prodigious memory =
great memory, great at
memorizing things
 Useful Vocabulary
• Mineral
Questions 1-6
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 57?
In boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet. write
TRUE it the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

• 1. Marie Curie's husband was a joint winner of both Marie‘s Nobel Prizes.

• 2. Marie became interested in science when she was a child.

• 3. Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne because of her sister’s financial
contribution.

• 4. Marie stopped doing research for several years when her children were
born.

• 5. Marie took over the teaching position her husband had held.

• 6. Marie’s sister Bronia studied the medical uses of radioactivity.

1. Marie Curie's husband was a joint winner of both Marie‘s Nobel Prizes.
False

Marie Curie is probably the most famous woman

scientist who has ever lived. Born Maria
Sklodowska in Poland in 1867, she is famous for
her work on radioactivity, and was twice a winner
of the Nobel Prize. With her husband, Pierre
Curie, and Henri Becquerel, she was awarded the
1903 Nobel Prize for Physics, and was then sole
winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
Joint = together Sole = alone
 2. Marie became interested in science
when she was a child.
• From childhood, Marie was remarkable for her
prodigious memory, and at the age of 16 won a
gold medal on completion of her secondary
education. Because her father lost his savings
through bad investment, she then had to take work
as a teacher. From her earnings she was able to
finance her sister Bronia's medical studies in Paris,
on the understanding that Bronia would, in turn,
later help her to get an education. NG
 3. Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne because of her sister’s
financial contribution.

From childhood, Marie was remarkable for her prodigious

memory, and at the age of 16 won a gold medal on completion
of her secondary education. Because her father lost his savings
through bad investment, she then had to take work as a
teacher. From her earnings she was able to finance her sister
Bronia's medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that
Bronia would, in turn, later help her tois get
Who an education.
“her”?

In 1891 this promise was fulfilled and Marie went to Paris and
began to study at the Sorbonne (the University of Paris).
True
4. Marie stopped doing research for several years when her children
were born.

• The births of Marie's two daughters, Irene and

Eve, in 1897 and 1904 failed to interrupt her
scientific work. She was appointed lecturer in
physics at the Ecole Normale Supérieure for
girls in Sevres, France (1900), and introduced a
method of teaching based on experimental
demonstrations. In December 1904 she was
appointed chief assistant in the laboratory
directed by Pierre Curie.
False
5. Marie took over the teaching position her husband had held.

• The sudden death of her husband in 1906 was a

bitter blow to Marie Curie, but was also a turning
point in her career: henceforth she was to devote
all her energy to completing alone the scientific
work that they had undertaken. On May 19, 1906,
she was appointed to the professorship that had
been left vacant on her husband's death, becoming
the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne. In 1911
she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for
the isolation of a pure form of radium.
True
6. Marie’s sister Bronia studied the medical uses of radioactivity.

• In 1921, accompanied by her two daughters, Marie

Curie made a triumphant journey to the United
States to raise funds for research on radium.
Women there presented her with a gram of radium
for her campaign. Marie also gave lectures in
Belgium, Brazil, Spain and Czechoslovakia and, in
addition, had the satisfaction of seeing the
development of the Curie Foundation in Paris, and
the inauguration in 1932 in Warsaw of the Radium
Institute, where her sister Bronia became director.
NG
 Marie Curie's research on radioactivity

• When uranium was discovered to be radioactive, Marie Curie found that the element
called 7 ……….... had the same property.

• Marie and Pierre Curie‘s research into the radioactivity of the mineral known as
8……………..led to the discovery of two new elements.

• In 1911, Marie Curie received recognition for her work on the element 9........................

• Marie and Irene Curie developed X-radiography which was used as a medical technique
for 10 ......................

• Marie Curie saw the importance of collecting radioactive material both for research and
for cases of 11 ...................

• The radioactive material stocked in Paris contributed to the discoveries in the 1930s of
the 12 ......……… and of what was known as artificial radioactivity.

• During her research. Marie Curie was exposed to radiation and as a result she suffered
from 13 ..............
 When uranium was discovered to be radioactive, Marie Curie found that the
element called 7 ……….... had the same property.
thorium

• Their marriage in 1895 marked the start of a

partnership that was soon to achieve results
of world significance. Following Henri
BecquereI‘s discovery in 1896 of a new
phenomenon, which Marie later called
'radioactivity', Marie Curie decided to find out
if the radioactivity discovered in uranium was
to be found in other elements. She discovered
that this was true for thorium.
Marie and Pierre Curie‘s research intopitchblende
the radioactivity of the mineral known as 8……………..led to the
discovery of two new elements.

• Turning her attention to minerals, she found her interest drawn to

pitchblende, a mineral whose radioactivity, superior to that of pure
uranium, could be explained only by the presence in the ore of small
quantities of an unknown substance of very high activity. Pierre Curie
joined her in the work that she had undertaken to resolve this
problem, and that led to the discovery of the new elements,
polonium and radium. While Pierre Curie devoted himself chiefly to
the physical study of the new radiations, Marie Curie struggled to
obtain pure radium in the metallic state. This was achieved with the
help of the chemist André-Louis Debierne, one of Pierre Curie's
pupils. Based on the results of this research, Marie Curie received her
Doctorate of Science, and in 1903 Marie and Pierre shared with
Becquerel the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of
radioactivity.
 In 1911, Marie Curie received recognition for her work on the
radium
element 9........................

• The sudden death of her husband in 1906 was a

bitter blow to Marie Curie, but was also a turning
point in her career: henceforth she was to devote
all her energy to completing alone the scientific
work that they had undertaken. On May 19, 1906,
she was appointed to the professorship that had
been left vacant on her husband's death, becoming
the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne. In 1911
she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for
the isolation of a pure form of radium.
 Marie and Irene Curie developed X-radiography which was used as a medical technique for
10 ......................
soldiers

• During World War I, Marie Curie, with the help of her

daughter Irene, devoted herself to the development of
the use of X-radiography, including the mobile units
which came to be known as 'little Curies', used for the
treatment of wounded soldiers. In 1918 the Radium
Institute, whose staff Irene had joined, began to operate
in earnest, and became a centre for nuclear physics and
chemistry. Marie Curie, now at the highest point of her
fame and, from 1922, a member of the Academy of
Medicine, researched the chemistry of radioactive
substances and their medical applications
 Marie Curie saw the importance of collecting radioactive material both for
research and for cases of 11 ................... illness

• One of Marie Curie's outstanding

achievements was to have understood the
need to accumulate intense radioactive
sources, not only to treat illness but also to
maintain an abundant supply for research.

This is a “flipping”
question – what does
that mean?
 The radioactive material stocked in Paris contributed to the
neutron and of what was
discoveries in the 1930s of the 12 ......………
known as artificial radioactivity.

• The existence in Paris at the Radium Institute

of a stock of 1.5 grams of radium made a
decisive contribution to the success of the
experiments undertaken in the years around
1930. This work prepared the way for the
discovery of the neutron by Sir James
Chadwick and, above all, for the discovery in
1934 by Irene and Frédéric Joliot- Curie of
artificial radioactivity.
 During her research. Marie Curie was exposed to
radiation and as a result she suffered from 13 ..............
leukemia

• “suffered from” = what are we looking for?

• Disease or illness

• One of Marie Curie's outstanding achievements was to have understood the

need to accumulate intense radioactive sources, not only to treat illness but
also to maintain an abundant supply for research. The existence in Paris at
the Radium Institute of a stock of 1.5 grams of radium made a decisive
contribution to the success of the experiments undertaken in the years
around 1930. This work prepared the way for the discovery of the neutron
by Sir James Chadwick and, above all, for the discovery in 1934 by Irene and
Frédéric Joliot- Curie of artificial radioactivity. A few months after this
discovery, Marie Curie died as a result of leukemia caused by exposure to
radiation. She had often carried test tubes containing radioactive isotopes
in her pocket, remarking on the pretty blue-green light they gave off.