European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 2, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse By Sid Whippie staff writer to was in this miserable old shed Al that the Best and happiest years of our life were spent entirely consecrate to work. I sometimes passed the whole Day stirring a bubbling mass with Anion Rod nearly As big As myself. In the evening i was broken with fatigue. In spite of the difficulties we Felt very the miserable old shed of which Marie Curie spoke so lovingly in later years was a dilapidated wooden Shack with a dirt floor a Leaky roof a Cranky stove and grim piles of Metal refuse. Twas a gloomy dust Laden Laboratory out of which came one of the most Brilliant discoveries in the history of chemistry. Further adding to the depressing atmosphere of the barn like place was the fact that the two individuals labor ing Over its smoking vats Marie and her husband Pierre were suffering from malnutrition exhaustion and Vari Ous bodily ills. Yet As mme. Curie insisted they were very the life of this frail but magnificently Resolute Wonita had been one of constant Battle against in Warsaw Poland just Over 100 years ago into a intellectually gifted but impoverished family she grew up in a land whose citizens were ground under the Heel of czarist oppression. Two Strong emotions governed her activities Devotion to her family and love of her native land. The Road to learning in Poland particularly for a woman was difficult. Education of women stopped at graduation from the gymnasium High school and although Marya Sklodowska Daugh Ter of an obscure teacher had won a Gold medal As the top scholar in the22 subjects she studied in the gymnasium she was not permitted to go further. So her eyes were set on the sorbonne in Paris where women Stu dents were on an equal level with the men. Stripes Magazine a hot an education costs Money and in order to build up enough Cash re serve to finance a year or two in Paris Marya became a governess tutoring Rich folks children and conducting irregular classes in country schools. Shews constantly working constantly Reading. "1 read several things at a time she wrote to a Cousin Daniel s physics Spencer s sociology i French and Paul Bers i lessons on Anatomy and physiology in five years of mental and physical Drudgery the Young woman finally amassed enough Money she thought to buy a third clans railway ticket to Paris and to pay her University fees with a Little left Over for food. This was late in 1891 and Marya was just under 24 years old. Marie Curie four years of painful Back breaking work. In spite of near starvation tone Day she fainted in a lecture room and was found to have eaten nothing but a few radishes and cherries the Day before her fight for Scholastic honors continued. Less than two years after her arrival in Paris she won the top rating in the physical sciences examination. In 1894 she was second in mathematical sciences and had won a scholarship giving her enough to live on economically for another year. Then she met or. Pierre Curie. They were Kindred souls engrossed in science indifferent to the outer world impervious to personal discomfort in interested in the thought of material gain. So Marya Sklodowska became mine. Marie Curie. It was a gloomy dust Laden Laboratory out of which came one of the most Brilliant discoveries in the history of chemistry. At 35, Pierre Curie had won consid Erable attention in scientific circles outside of France. With a brother head discovered various Phenomena in relation to pressure crystallization an electricity which brought him to the notice of lord be Lylw the then famous British scientist. He had also invented certain electrical measuring equipment which was to prove invaluable in later research. At the time of his marriage he was deeply immersed in a study of magnetism. Marie was a methodical housewife As she was a methodical scientist. She conducted her Kitchen As she did he Laboratory taking notes analysing re sults recording her took 8 in of fruit she wrote in the margin of a Cookbook and the same amount of crystallized sugar. After boiling for 10 minutes 1 passed the mixture through a very Fine Sieve. 1 obtained 14 pots of very Good Jelly nontransparent which took Marie spent the first year of he marriage in work for a Fellowship in secondary education and preparing monograph on the magnetization of steel. Her work was hampered by the sickness of pregnancy but she achieved her goals the monograph and the successful birth of her daughter Irene. July 1961 tin Stass and stripes the Happy parents celebrated the and vent of Irene by squandering three francs on Champagne and then Marie turned to a piece of research for her doctor s degree that was to end in the crowning Triumph of her career. She decided to investigate the source of Energy by which salts of uranium make an impression on a photographic plate kept in darkness. She had suspected that these mysterious rays were not alone the property of uranium but that the source might lie in Many other metals. Using the electrical measuring device invented by her husband she be Gan testing the Mineral specimens be longing to the school of physics. Within a few months the persistent researcher was convinced that the radioactivity evidenced in Many of the samples was greater than could be accounted for by the presence of uranium or thorium and that this activity indicated the existence of a hitherto unknown chemical element. She concentrated her labors on a search for the elusive matter. Another Milestone on the Long Road came on april 12, 1898, when she announced in the proceedings of the Academy of science the probability of the element s existence in pitch ble Deores. All that remained was to track it Down and isolate it. A our years of painful Back break ing work followed. It was at this Tim that Marie almost at the Point of physical collapse told of the endless hours of stirring a boiling mass until she was nearly broken with the magnitude of the task May be explained by the fact that while the curies had guessed originally that the element comprised perhaps a Hundredth part of the pitch Blende Ore. It was late found to be Only one Millionth of the mass. There were also problems of obtain ing sufficient quantities of the material. Pitch Blende or the uranium salts i contained was in general use for Glass making. The curies decided correctly that the element they were Hunting for probably survived the uranium extraction processes and that they needed Only the unused residue for their experiments. This material had to be paid for Al though they received an initial ton at no Cost and transportation charges from Austria where it was produced had to be paid. So the work went on in a Laboratory sometimes freezing and sometimes stif Ling until Marie had melted and boiled and stirred some eight tons of the stuff. In four years of work Marie announced the recovery of one dec Igram one tenth of a Gram of pure Radium. Discovery at this time of the effects of Radium upon certain types of tutors and cancer brought new prob lems to the curies. Despite the Opportunity for commercial exploitation the curies had absolutely no intention of profiling from their science. They did not Patent their methods. Radium was free to All could not. However escape the honors the acclaim with which the were saluted throughout the scientific world. In november 1903, they were awarded the Davy medal England s greatest scientific Honor. And in the continued on Page a a 11
