00:14Radium could be very dangerous in criminal hands.
00:18Pierre Curie
00:20The Nobel Prize in Physics 1903 was divided, one half awarded to Antoine-Henri Becquerel in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity, the other half jointly to Pierre Curie and Marie Curie-Ni Sklodowska in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint research
00:49on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel.
00:54Pierre Curie was born in Paris, where his father was a general medical practitioner, on May 15, 1859.
01:03He received his early education at home before entering the Faculty of Sciences at the Sorbonne.
01:11He gained his licentiate-ship in Physics in 1878 and continued as a demonstrator in the Physics Laboratory until 1882, when he was placed in charge of all practical work in the Physics and Industrial Chemistry schools.
01:29In 1895 he obtained his Doctor of Science degree and was appointed Professor of Physics.
01:36He was promoted to Professor in the Faculty of Sciences in 1900 and in 1904 he became Titular Professor.
01:45In his early studies on crystallography, together with his brother Jack, Curie discovered piezoelectric effects.
01:54Later he advanced theories of symmetry with regard to certain physical phenomena and turned his attention to magnetism.
02:03He showed that the magnetic properties of a given substance change at a certain temperature.
02:09This temperature is now known as the Curie point.
02:13To assist in his experiments, he constructed several delicate pieces of apparatus, balances, electrometers, piezoelectric crystals, etc.
02:24Curie's studies of radioactive substances were made together with his wife.
02:29They were achieved under conditions of March hardship, barely adequate laboratory facilities, and under the stress of having to do March teaching in order to earn their livelihood.
02:43They announced the discovery of radium and polonium by fractionation of pitchbend in 1898,
02:51and later they did much to elucidate the properties of radium and its transformation products.
02:59Their work in this era formed the basis for much of the subsequent research in nuclear physics and chemistry.
03:07Together they were awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 on account of their study into the spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel,
03:19who was awarded the other half of the prize.
03:22Pierre Curie's work is recorded in numerous publications in the Conte Rendue dell'Academie des Sciences and the Jornal Physique, Annale de Physique et Chemie.
03:34Curie was awarded the Davie Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1903 jointly with his wife,
03:41and in 1905 he was elected to the Academy of Sciences.
03:46Marie Curie near Maria Sklodowska was born in Warsaw on November 7, 1867, the daughter of a secondary school teacher.
03:56In 1891 she went to Paris to continue her studies at the Sorbonne, where she obtained licensiate ships in physics and the mathematical sciences.
04:07She met Pierre Curie, professor in the School of Physics, in 1894 and in the following year they were married.
04:16The importance of Madame Curie's work is reflected in the numerous awards bestowed on her.
04:24She received many honorary science, medicine and law degrees and honorary memberships of learned societies throughout the world.
04:34In 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry, in recognition of her work in radioactivity.
04:44Pierre was killed in a street accident in Paris on April 1906.
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