Pierre Curie example essay topic

346 words
Marie Curie opened up the science of radioactivity. She is best known aw the discover of the radioactive elements polonium and radium and as the first person to win two Nobel prizes. For scientists and the public, her radium was a key to a basic change in our understanding of matter and energy. Her work not only influenced the development of fundamental science but also u shared in a new era in medical research and treatment. Her thesis topic was influenced by two discoveries by other scientists. In December 1895 German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovered a kind of ray that could travel through solid wood or flesh and yeld photographs and human bone.

The ignored uranium rays appealed to her. She began experimental work on them immediately. Thanks to her alliance with industry, few labs in the world if any were better equipped with radium than Curie's. But Curie succeeded in shocking Meloney by emphasizing the fact that research and therapy centers in the United States together had about 50 times as much radium as the single gram she -- the scientist who had discovered the element -- had in her laboratory.

When Meloney learned that Curie's most fervent wish was for a second gram for her laboratory, the editor organized a "Marie Curie Radium Campaign". Pierre Curie was constantly working. At age 14 he had shown a passion and gift for mathematics. At 18 he had a master's degree. At age 21 and his brother at 24 the brother had discovered the piezoelectric effect. The Curie brothers had found that when pressure is applied to certain crystals the generate electrical voltage.

Pierre also was fond of the study of magnetism. He found a basic relationship between magnetic properties and temperature. The temperature at which certain magnetic materials undergo a marked change in their magnetic properties is today called the Curie point after Pierre. He had a lot to do with where we are today in science.