Who Was Marie Curie? by Megan Stine

Author:Megan Stine [Stine, Megan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2014-07-23T14:00:00+00:00

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She had to hurry! Now that the world knew about polonium, other scientists might want to study it. Even Becquerel was interested in Marie’s work. In those days, just like today, scientists tried to help one another, but they also competed with one another to be the first with new ideas.

Becquerel was both a friend and a competitor. He helped Marie get some money for her experiments, but instead of telling Marie about the money, he told Pierre! He treated her like she wasn’t as important as Pierre because she was a woman. Becquerel also took ideas from Marie’s work and tried to do similar experiments himself.

Pierre was totally the opposite. He didn’t like to compete. He simply loved science for its own sake. Marie was the ambitious one. She wanted credit for her discovery. She was determined to be first to prove that her new metal existed.

Marie got to work. She tried to separate the polonium from the pitchblende—but she failed. The amounts of polonium in the pitchblende were too tiny.

While she was trying, though, she stumbled onto something else. Something even better! The pitchblende contained another mysterious metal that was giving off rays. This one was even more radioactive than polonium. What was it?

Marie did a series of tests to find out. After several experiments, she realized she had found another new element! She and Pierre named this new metal radium. Radium was so powerful that even the tiniest amount was a million times more radioactive than uranium.

It was an amazing year for Marie and Pierre. By December 1898, she had discovered two new chemical elements that the world hadn’t known about! Other scientists were beginning to notice her work.

However, some scientists still wanted more proof. They weren’t sure she was right. They wanted to see the radium, and touch it.

Was it even possible to separate the radium from the pitchblende?

Marie was determined to try.

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