Marie Curie and the discovery of Radium

1. Marie Curie was born in Warsaw on 7 November, 1867. Her father was a teacher of science and mathematics in a school in the town, and from him little Maria Sklodowska - which was her Polish name - learned her first lessons in science. Maria's wish was to study at the Sorbonne in Paris, and after many years of waiting she finally left her native land in 1891.

2. In Paris Maria began a course of hard study and simple living. She determined to work for two Master's degrees - one in Physics, the other in Mathematics. This she had to work twice as hard as the ordinary student. Yet she had scarcely enough money to live on. She lived in the poorest quarter of Paris. Night after night, after her hard day's work at the University, she got to her poorly furnished room and worked at her books steadily for hours, Sometimes she had no more than a bag of cherries. Though she was often weak and ill, she worked in this way for four years. She had chosen her course and nothing could turn her from it.

3. Among the many scientists Maria met and worked with in Paris was Pierre Curie. Pierre Curie, born in 1859 in Paris, was the son of a doctor, and from early childhood he had been fascinated by science.

At sixteen he wasa Bachelor ofScience, and he took his Master's degree in Physics when he was eighteen: When helmet MariaSklodowska he was thirty-five years old and was famous throughout Europe for his discoveries in magnetism. But in spite of the honour he had brought to France by his discoveries, the, French Government could only give him a very little salaryasa reward, and the University of Paris refusedhim a laboratory of his own for his researches.

4. Pierre Curie and Maria Sklodowska, both of whom loved science more than anything else, very soon became the closest friends. They worked together constantly and discussed many problems of their researches. After little more than a year they fell in love with each other, and in 1895 Maria Sklodowska became Mme. Curie. Theirs was not only to be a very happy marriage but also one of the greatest scientific partnerships.

Marie had been the greatest woman-scientist of her day but she was a mother too, a very loving one. There were their two little girls, Irene and Eye.

5. By this time Mme. Curie had obtained her Master’s degree in Physics and Mathematics, and was busy with researches on street. She now wished to obtain a Doctor’s degree. For this it was necessary to offer to the examiners a special study, called a thesis.

For some time Pierre Curie had been interested in the work of a French scientist named Becquerel. There is a rare metal called uranium which, as Becquerel discovered, emits rays very much like X-rays. These rays made marks on a photographic plate when it was wrapped in black paper. The Curie got interested in these rays of uranium. What caused them? How strong were they? There were many such questions that puzzled Marie Curie and her husband. Here, they decided, was the very subject for Marie’s Doctor’s thesis.

6. The research was carried out under great difficulty. Mme. Curie had to use an old store-room at the University as her laboratory – she was refused a better room. It was cold, there was no proper apparatus and very little space for research work. Soon she discovered that the rays of uranium were like no other known rays.

Marie Curie wanted to find out if other chemical substances might emit similar rays. So she began to examine every know chemical substance. Once after repeating her experiments time after time she found that a mineral called pitchblende emitted much more powerful rays than any she had already found.

Now, an element is a chemical substance which so far as is known cannot be split up into other substances. As Mme. Curie had examined every known chemical element and none of them had emitted such powerful rays as pitchblende she could only decide that this mineral must contain some new element.

7. Scientists had declared that every element was already known to them. But all Mme. Curie’s experiments pointed out that it was not so. Pitchblende must contain some new and unknown element. There was no other explanation for the powerful rays which it emitted. At that moment Pierre Curie stopped his own investigations on the physics of crystals and joined his wife in her effort to find those more active unknown chemical elements.

Scientists call the property of giving out such rays “radioactivity”, and Mme. Curie decided to call the new element “radium”, because it was more strongly radioactive than any known metal.

In 1903 Marie and Pierre together with Henry Becquerel were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

In 1911 Marie received the Nobel Prize In Chemistry. But the second prize went to her alone for in 1906 Pierre had died tragically in a traffic accident.

Mme. Sklodowska-Curie, the leading woman-scientist, the greatest woman of her generation, has become the first person to receive a Nobel Prize twice.

8. Marie lived to see her story repeated. Her daughter Irene grew into a woman with the same interests as her mother's and she was deeply interested in her mother's work. From Marie she learned all about radiology and chose science for her career. At twenty-nine she married Frederic Joliot, a brilliant scientist at the Institute of Radium, which her parents had founded.

Together the Joliot-Curies carried on the research work that Irene's mother had begun. In 1935 Irene and her husband won the Nobel Prize for their discovery of artificial radioactivity.

So, Marie lived to see the completion of the great work, but she died on the eve of the award.

МАРИЯ КЮРИ И ОТКРЫТИЕ РАДИЯ 1. Мария Кюри родилась в Варшаве 7 ноября 1867. Ее отец был учителем науки и математики в школе в городе, и от него маленькая Мария Склодовская - который был ее польским именем - извлекал ее первые уроки в науке. Желание Марии состояло в том, чтобы учиться в Сорбонне в Париже, и после многих лет ожидания, она наконец оставила свою родину в 1891. 2. В Париже Мария начала курс упорных занятий и простого проживания. Она решила работать на две Степени магистра - один в Физике, другом в Математике. Это она должна была дважды столь же работать усиленно как обычный студент. Все же у нее было едва достаточно денег, чтобы жить на. Она жила в самой бедной четверти Парижа. Ночь за ночью, после работы ее трудного дня в университете, она добралась до своей плохо меблированной комнаты и работала в своих книгах устойчиво в течение многих часов, Иногда у нее была не больше, чем сумка вишен. Хотя она была часто слаба и больна, она работала таким образом в течение четырех лет. Она выбрала свой курс, и ничто не могло повернуть ее из него. 3. Среди многих встреченных ученых Марии и работал с в Париже, был Пьер Кюри. Пьер Кюри, родившийся в 1859 в Париже, был сын доктора, и от раннего детства он был очарован наукой. В шестнадцать он был Бакалавром наук, и он взял свою Степень магистра в области Физики, когда ему было восемнадцать лет: Когда шлем Мария Склодовская ему было тридцать пять лет и был известен всюду по Европе его открытиями в магнетизме. Но несмотря на честь он принес во Францию его открытиями, французское правительство могло только дать ему очень небольшую зарплату как награду, и университет Парижа отказался от него собственная лаборатория для его исследований. 4. Пьер Кюри и Мария Склодовская, оба из которых любили науку больше чем что-либо еще, очень скоро стали самыми близкими друзьями. Они постоянно сотрудничали и обсуждали много проблем своих исследований. После немного больше чем года они влюбились в друг друга, и в 1895 Мария Склодовская стала мадам. Кюри. Их не был только, чтобы быть очень счастливым браком, но также и одним из самых больших научных товариществ. Мари была самой великой женщиной-ученым своего дня, но она была матерью также, очень любящей. Были их две маленьких девочки, Ирен и Глаз. 5. К этому времени мадам. Кюри получило ее Степень магистра в области Физики и Математики, и было занято исследованиями в области улицы. Она теперь хотела получить степень Доктора. Для этого было необходимо предложить ревизорам специальное исследование, названное тезисом. В течение некоторого времени Пьер Кюри интересовался работой французского ученого под названием Беккерель. Есть редкий металл, названный ураном, который, как обнаруженный Беккерель, испускает лучи очень как рентген. Эти лучи производили большое впечатление на фотографической пластине, когда она была обернута в черную бумагу. Кюри было заинтересовано этими лучами урана. Что вызвало их? Насколько сильны были они? Было много таких вопросов, которые озадачили Марию Кюри и ее мужа. Здесь, они решили, было очень подчиненное для тезиса Доктора Мари. 6. Исследование было выполнено под большой трудностью. Мадам. Кюри должно было использовать старое складское помещение в университете как ее лаборатория – ей отказали в лучшей комнате. Было холодно, не было никакого надлежащего аппарата и очень небольшого количества пространства для исследовательской работы. Скоро она обнаружила, что лучи урана не походили ни на какие другие известные лучи. Мария Кюри хотела узнать, могли ли бы другие химические вещества испустить подобные лучи. Таким образом, она начала исследовать каждый знала химическое вещество. Однажды после повторения ее экспериментов раз за разом она нашла, что минерал, названный pitchblende, испускал намного более сильные лучи чем любой, которого она уже нашла. Теперь, элемент - химическое вещество, которое, насколько известен, не может быть разделено на другие вещества. Как мадам. Кюри исследовало каждый известный химический элемент, и ни один из них не испустил такие сильные лучи как pitchblende, она могла только решить, что этот минерал должен содержать некоторый новый элемент. 7. Ученые объявили, что каждый элемент был уже известен им. Но вся мадам. Эксперименты кюри указали, что это не было так. Pitchblende должен содержать некоторый новый и неизвестный элемент. Не было никакого другого объяснения сильных лучей, которые оно испускало. В тот момент Пьер Кюри остановил свои собственные исследования на физике кристаллов и присоединился к его жене в ее усилии найти те более активные неизвестные химические элементы. Ученые называют собственность выделения таких лучей "радиоактивностью", и мадам. Кюри решил назвать новый элемент "радием", потому что это было более решительно радиоактивно чем любой известный металл. В 1903 Мари и Пьер вместе с Генри Бекрелем были награждены Нобелевской премией в Физике. В 1911 Мари получила Нобелевскую премию В Химии. Но второй приз пошел к ней один для в 1906 Пьера, умер трагически в дорожном происшествии. Мадам. Sklodowska-кюри, ведущая женщина-ученый, самая великая женщина ее поколения, стало первым человеком, который получит Нобелевскую премию дважды. 8. Мари жила, чтобы посмотреть ее повторенную историю. Ее дочь Ирен превратилась в женщину с одинаковыми интересами как ее мать, и она глубоко интересовалась работой своей матери. От Мари она изучила все о радиологии и выбрала науку для ее карьеры. В двадцать девять она вышла замуж за Фредерика Джолайота, выдающегося ученого из Института Радия, который основали ее родители. Вместе Joliot-Curies продолжили исследовательскую работу, которую начала мать Ирен. В 1935 Ирен и ее муж выиграли Нобелевскую премию по их открытию искусственной радиоактивности. Так, Мари жила, чтобы видеть завершение большой работы, но она умерла накануне премии.

EDUCATION IN RUSSIA

1. Ancient Rus was one of the early feudal states and eld a leading place in the world history.

The Slavonic written language came to Rus from Bulgaria in 9th century. Towards the end of this century the replacement of religious books in Greek for those in the Slavonic language began.

Between the 10th and 13th centuries Russians developed a high civilization, which formed the foundation of the Russian cultural threasures were accumulated. The written works of the time show that the level of knowledge on most natural phenomena was as high as that of Ancient Greence.

Monasteries were cultural and educational centres. They had large libraries and well-equipped book-making shop, in which not only church manuscripts were copied and translated but original books were written. Today we can confidently say that Ancient Rus was a state of high culture and knowledge.

2. In pre-revolutionary Russia there was a network of primary schools for common people. Nevertheless illiteracy among common people was very high. Well-off people taught thei children in grammar schools, commercial shools or secondary schools teaching no classics.

There were also schools for nobles only. Entrance to those schools was limited. For example, at lycee where A.S. Pushkin studied the number of pupils ranged from thirty to one hundred. Only boys at the of 10 or 12 from noble families of high rank were admitted and studied there for six years. They were taught many different subject. The mos important were Russian literature, history, geography, mathematics, physics, logic, law,rhetoric and such foreign languages as French, English, German and Latin. Great attention was paid to different arts and physical training: riding, swimming, fencing and dancing. The aim of this school was to bring up intelligent people in the broad sense of the word. Those who graduated from such educational institutions usually entered the service of their country to realize their abilities and knowledge to the benefit of their state.

3. The history of higher education in Russia goes back to 1755 when the first University was founded in Moscow on the initiative of M.V. Lomonosov and in accordance with his plan. Later, universities were opened in many other big cities of the country.

4. After the revolution in 1917, education was guaranteed to the Soviet citizens by the Constitution and was free of charge including higher education. Teaching at schools was carried out almost in all national languages. The system of education was the same throughout the country.

School attendance was compulsory for those between 7 and 15. Those who completed their secondary education and passed entrance examinations to higher education establishments received monthly grants if they did not fail in the examinations that they took at the end of each term. Higher school enducation lasted five years.

5. In 1991 the former fifteen republics of the Soviet Union became independent states. The Russian Federation, the biggest and most powerful of them began to develop as a democratic state. From the very start democratic reforms began to take place in many fields of life. Changes in political, economic and social conditions required changes in the system of education. Its aim is to prepare the growing generation for independent life and work in new conditions.

New curriculums were introduced in schools such as "The World Around Us" for younger students and "Fundamentals of Information Science and Computer Engineering", "Ethics and Psychology of Family Life" for senior students. Along with state schools where education is free of charge there appeared many private schools, colleges, lycees, gymnasiums and different courses where students can study sciences and humanities including foreign languages.

6. At some schools the leavers are sent abroad to continue their education at Sorbonne in Paris, at the Universities of Great Britain, Garmany, USA and other countries.

After graduating from those Universities they return to to their country to work in different fields of national economy.

A former student of a Russian school said on his return home:

"I was surprised how much there is in common between Russian and Western young people - their love for entertainments and the same kind of music and their wish to know everything new. I hope there will be time when young people from abroad will also come to our country to study.

Such exchanges of students will undoubtedly result in better understanding among people which in its turn will bring greater stability to the whole world".

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