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CURIE, Marie (1867-1934), née Sklodowska, Physicist, chemist. Autograph letter signed ("Marie Curie") to an unidentified correspondant, Paris, 28 December 1898. 2 pages, on stationery of the École Municipale de Physique & de Chimie Industrielles, in very fine condition. In French.
MARIE CURIE ON HER DISCOVERY OF RADIUM, TWO DAYS AFTER IT IS ANNOUNCED TO SCIENCE
A brief but important letter concerning the momentous discovery of the radioactive element radium. After taking a degree in physics at the Sorbonne in 1893, and another in mathematics the following year, young Marie Skolodowska had married Pierre Curie (1859-1906), and embarked upon research into a recently observed and little-understood phenomenon, natural radiation. Curie coined the term radioactivity in 1898 for her Doctoral dissertation; initially it was found that only uranium and thorium possessed the property, but in July of 1898, Curie published a note on the discovery of an element four times as radioactive as uranium, which she called polonium. After studying the ores of these elements, she concluded that radiation depended not on the pattern of atoms in a molecule but originated with the atom itself. But on 26 December, two days prior to this letter, the Curies announced to the Académie des Sciences the discovery of "a second radioactive substance, entirely different from the first in its chemical properties..." (Comptes rendus...de l'Académie des sciences, November 1898), which they had isolated from uranium ore. The new element they christened radium. Here, perhaps to a journalist or scientific editor, Curie describes the recent discovery: "Mr. Curie, Mr. Bémont [Pierre Curie's assistant] and I have presented a letter to the Academy on the second radio-active metal, radium," but she expresses reservations about including the recent discovery in an upcoming article: "I think it is too difficult to talk about in the article I sent you, there would have to be too many modifications, another difficulty being the fact that I will be away from Paris for a few days." She advises him to go ahead with his article anyway, notwithstanding recent discoveries: "However I do not believe it necessary to delay the publication of the article any longer, because more new modifications may develop with regard to the matter. I think the best thing is to publish the article with the letter which I sent on the works of Mr. Elster and Mr. Geitel." (Elster and Geitel were two other scientists also experimenting in radioactivity, who helped define radioactivity for the first time as a natural, spontaneous transformation of an element.)
After several years of further research, the Curies, along with fellow scientist Henri Becquerel, jointly received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for the discovery of radioactivity. Pressing on with their work, in spite of Pierre's death in 1906, Marie was asked to take his place at the Sorbonne, becoming the first female professor there. In 1911, she received another Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the isolation of pure radium, the first person ever to receive such an honor twice.
MARIE CURIE ON HER DISCOVERY OF RADIUM, TWO DAYS AFTER IT IS ANNOUNCED TO SCIENCE
A brief but important letter concerning the momentous discovery of the radioactive element radium. After taking a degree in physics at the Sorbonne in 1893, and another in mathematics the following year, young Marie Skolodowska had married Pierre Curie (1859-1906), and embarked upon research into a recently observed and little-understood phenomenon, natural radiation. Curie coined the term radioactivity in 1898 for her Doctoral dissertation; initially it was found that only uranium and thorium possessed the property, but in July of 1898, Curie published a note on the discovery of an element four times as radioactive as uranium, which she called polonium. After studying the ores of these elements, she concluded that radiation depended not on the pattern of atoms in a molecule but originated with the atom itself. But on 26 December, two days prior to this letter, the Curies announced to the Académie des Sciences the discovery of "a second radioactive substance, entirely different from the first in its chemical properties..." (Comptes rendus...de l'Académie des sciences, November 1898), which they had isolated from uranium ore. The new element they christened radium. Here, perhaps to a journalist or scientific editor, Curie describes the recent discovery: "Mr. Curie, Mr. Bémont [Pierre Curie's assistant] and I have presented a letter to the Academy on the second radio-active metal, radium," but she expresses reservations about including the recent discovery in an upcoming article: "I think it is too difficult to talk about in the article I sent you, there would have to be too many modifications, another difficulty being the fact that I will be away from Paris for a few days." She advises him to go ahead with his article anyway, notwithstanding recent discoveries: "However I do not believe it necessary to delay the publication of the article any longer, because more new modifications may develop with regard to the matter. I think the best thing is to publish the article with the letter which I sent on the works of Mr. Elster and Mr. Geitel." (Elster and Geitel were two other scientists also experimenting in radioactivity, who helped define radioactivity for the first time as a natural, spontaneous transformation of an element.)
After several years of further research, the Curies, along with fellow scientist Henri Becquerel, jointly received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for the discovery of radioactivity. Pressing on with their work, in spite of Pierre's death in 1906, Marie was asked to take his place at the Sorbonne, becoming the first female professor there. In 1911, she received another Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the isolation of pure radium, the first person ever to receive such an honor twice.