Hump Day History

 


While the laureates were already revealed in October, the actual ceremony is held today, including the very first, in 1901.

So today's bits of history include a few mentions of past winners of the Peace Prize, including The Red Cross (1917), Woodrow Wilson (1920), and American diplomat Ralph Bunche (1950).

But I wanted to look at 1903, when Marie and Pierre Curie won the Physics Prize for their work with radium.  I recently saw a post that mentioned her journals, which will remain radioactive for another 1,500 years.


Marie Sklodowska Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1867, the daughter of a Physics teacher.  In 1891, she went to study in Paris.  She received a degree in physical sciences (1893) and mathematics (1894) before she met Pierre.  They were married in 1895.

As a subject for her doctoral thesis, she began studying uranium.  She coined the term radioactivity, describing the phenomenon of radiation caused by atomic decay.

Together, she and Pierre discovered polonium and radium.

She was able to isolate one-tenth gram of radium chloride in 1902, earning her doctorate of science followed by the Nobel Prize.

In 1918, the Radium Institute at the University of Paris began to operate under Marie's direction, and is now home to the Curie Museum.

And a digital comic!


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