Curie Pierre: scientific achievements. Nobel Prize in Physics of Pierre and Maria Curie

Pierre Curie (May 15, 1859 - April 19, 1906) was a French physicist, a pioneer in the field of crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity and radioactivity.

History of success

Before he joined the research of his wife - Maria Sklodowska-Curie, Pierre Curie was already widely known and respected in the world of physics. Together with his brother Jacques, he discovered the phenomenon of piezoelectricity, in which the crystal can become electrically polarized, and invented a quartz balance. His work on the symmetry of crystals and conclusions about the relationship between magnetism and temperature also received approval in the scientific community. He shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1903 with Henri Becquerel and his wife Maria Curie.

Pierre and his wife played a key role in the discovery of radium and polonium, substances that had a significant impact on humanity with their practical and nuclear properties. Their marriage founded a scientific dynasty: the children and grandchildren of famous physicists also became famous scientists.

Maria and Pierre Curie: biography

Pierre was born in Paris, France, in the family of Sophie-Claire Depouy, the daughter of the manufacturer, and Dr. Eugène Curie, a free-thinking doctor. His father supported the family with modest medical practice, incidentally satisfying his love of the natural sciences. Eugene Curie was an idealist and ardent Republican, and founded a hospital for the wounded during the Commune of 1871.

Pierre received his pre-university education at home. Taught first his mother, and then - father and elder brother Jacques. He particularly liked excursions to the countryside, where Pierre could observe and study plants and animals, developing a love of nature that he had preserved throughout his life, which was his only entertainment and rest during his further scientific career. At the age of 14, he showed a strong propensity for exact sciences and began to study with a mathematics professor who helped him develop his gift in this discipline, especially the spatial representation.

The Curie Boy observed the experiments carried out by his father, and found a penchant for experimental research.

From pharmacologists in physics

Pierre's knowledge in the physical and mathematical sphere brought him in 1875 a Bachelor of Science degree at the age of sixteen.

At the age of 18 he received an equivalent diploma in the Sorbonne, also known as the University of Paris, but did not immediately enroll for a doctorate due to lack of funds. Instead, he served as a laboratory assistant in his alma mater, in 1878 he became an assistant to Paul Desna, answering for laboratory work of students-physicists. At that time, his brother Jacques worked in the mineralogy laboratory at the Sorbonne, and they began a productive five-year period of scientific cooperation.

Successful marriage

In 1894, Pierre met his future wife - Maria Sklodowska, who studied physics and mathematics at the Sorbonne, and married her on July 25, 1895, performing a simple civil marriage ceremony. Received money as a wedding gift money Maria used to purchase two bicycles, on which the newlyweds made a wedding trip to the French outback, and which were their main means of recreation for many years. In 1897, they had a daughter, and a few days later Pierre's mother died. Dr. Curie moved to a young couple and helped take care of his granddaughter, Irene Curie.

Pierre and Maria devoted themselves to scientific work. Together they separated polonium and radium, became pioneers in studying radioactivity and were the first to use this term. In their writings, including Maria's famous doctoral work, they used data obtained with the help of a sensitive piezoelectric electrometer created by Pierre and his brother Jacques.

Pierre Curie: biography of the scientist

In 1880, he and his older brother Jacques showed that an electric potential, piezoelectricity, arises when the crystal contracts. Shortly thereafter (in 1881), the opposite effect was demonstrated: the crystals can deform under the action of an electric field. Almost all digital electronic circuits today use this phenomenon in the form of quartz oscillators.

Prior to his famous doctoral dissertation on magnetism for measuring magnetic coefficients, the French physicist developed and perfected extremely sensitive torsion scales. Their modifications were used by subsequent researchers in this field.

Pierre studied ferromagnetism, paramagnetism and diamagnetism. He discovered and described the dependence of the ability of substances to magnetize on temperature, known today as the Curie law. The constant in this law is called the Curie constant. Pierre also established that ferromagnetic substances possess a critical transition temperature, above which they lose their ferromagnetic properties. This phenomenon is called the Curie point.

The principle that Pierre Curie formulated, the doctrine of symmetry, is that physical action can not cause asymmetry, which is absent in its cause. For example, an accidental mixture of sand in weightlessness has no asymmetry (sand is isotropic). As a result of gravity, an asymmetry arises due to the direction of the field. The grains are "sorted" in density, which increases with depth. But this new directed arrangement of sand particles actually reflects the asymmetry of the gravitational field that caused the separation.

Radioactivity

The work of Pierre and Maria on radioactivity was based on the results of Roentgen and Henri Becquerel. In 1898, after careful research, they discovered polonium, and a few months later - radium, isolating 1 g of this chemical element from uraninite. In addition, they found that the beta rays are negatively charged particles.

The discoveries of Pierre and Maria Curie required great effort. Money was not enough, and to save on transportation costs, they went to work on bicycles. Indeed, the teacher's salary was minimal, but a couple of scientists continued to devote their time and money to research.

The discovery of polonium

The secret of their success lies in the new method of chemical analysis applied by Curie, based on the precise measurement of radiation. Each substance was placed on one of the plates of the condenser, and the conductivity of air was measured with the help of an electrometer and piezoelectric quartz. This value was proportional to the content of the active substance, such as uranium or thorium.

The couple checked a large number of compounds of almost all known elements and found that only uranium and thorium are radioactive. Nevertheless, they decided to measure the radiation emitted by the ores from which uranium and thorium are extracted, such as chalcolite and uraninite. The ore showed activity, which was 2.5 times more than that of uranium. After processing the residue with acid and hydrogen sulphide, they found that the active substance in all reactions accompanies bismuth. Nevertheless, they achieved a partial separation, noting that bismuth sulfide is less volatile than the sulphide of the new element, which they called polonium in honor of the birthplace of Marie Curie of Poland.

Radium, radiation and the Nobel Prize

December 26, 1898, Curie and J. Bemon, head of research at the "Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry," in their report to the Academy of Sciences announced the discovery of a new element, which they called radium.

The French physicist, together with one of his students, first discovered the energy of the atom, discovering the continuous radiation of heat by the particles of the newly discovered element. He also investigated the radiation of radioactive substances, and with the help of magnetic fields he managed to determine that some emitted particles are positively charged, others - negatively, and the third ones were neutral. Thus, alpha, beta, and gamma radiation were detected.

Curie shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with his wife and Henri Becquerel. It was conferred in recognition of the extraordinary services that they rendered with their investigations of the phenomena of radiation discovered by Professor Becquerel.

Last years

Pierre Curie, whose discoveries at first did not receive wide recognition in France, which prevented him from taking the chair of physical chemistry and mineralogy at the Sorbonne, he left for Geneva. Moving has changed the state of things, which can be explained by his left-wing views and disagreements about the policy of the Third Republic regarding science. After his candidacy was rejected in 1902, in 1905 he was admitted to the Academy.

The prestige of the Nobel Prize prompted the French Parliament in 1904 to create a new professor for the Curie at the Sorbonne. Pierre said that he would not stay at the School of Physics until there was a fully funded laboratory with the necessary number of assistants. His demand was met, and Maria headed his laboratory.

By the beginning of 1906, Pierre Curie was ready, finally, to begin work for the first time in due conditions, although he was sick and very tired.

April 19, 1906 in Paris during the lunch break, going from a meeting with colleagues in the Sorbonne, passing the slippery rain Ryo Dauphin, Curie slipped in front of a horse cart. The scientist died as a result of an accident. His untimely death, though tragic, nevertheless helped him escape death from what Pierre Curie discovered-the radiation exposure that later killed his wife. The couple is buried in the crypt of the Pantheon in Paris.

The heritage of the scientist

Radioactivity of radium makes it an extremely dangerous chemical element. Scientists realized this only after the use of this substance to illuminate the dials, panels, clocks and other tools in the early twentieth century began to affect the health of laboratory technicians and consumers. Nevertheless, chloride radium is used in medicine to treat cancer.

Polonius received various practical applications in industrial and nuclear installations. It is also known as a very toxic substance and can be used as a poison. Perhaps most important is its use as a neutron fuse for nuclear weapons.

In honor of Pierre Curie at the Radiological Congress in 1910 after the death of a physicist, a unit of radioactivity equal to 3.7 × 10 ¹⁰ decays per second or 37 gigabacquerels was named.

The scientific dynasty

The children and grandchildren of physicists also became prominent scientists. Their daughter Iren married Frederic Joliot and in 1935 they together received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Eve's youngest daughter, born in 1904, married an American diplomat and director of the United Nations Children's Fund. She is the author of the biography of her mother "Madame Curie" (1938), translated into several languages.

Granddaughter - Helene Langevin-Joliot - became a professor of nuclear physics at the University of Paris, and the grandson - Pier Joliot-Curie, named in honor of his grandfather - a famous biochemist.