Curie, Marie S

Name:
Curie, Marie S
Detailed information:
(1867–1934). Born in Warsaw, Poland, she and her husband Pierre made an intensive study of the radioactive properties of uranium. They isolated polonium in 1898 from pitchblende ore. By devising a tedious and painstaking separation method, they obtained a salt of radium in 1912, receiving the Nobel Prize in physics for this achievement in 1903 jointly with Becquerel. In 1911, Mme. Curie alone received the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Her work laid the foundation of the study of radioactive elements which culminated in control of nuclear fission.See Rutherford, Sir Ernest.