Marie Sk?odowska-Curie and her contributions to chemistry, radiochemistry and radiotherapy

摘要

Marie Sklodowska-Curie and her contributions to chemistry, radiochemistry and radiotherapy are discussed. The determination of phosphorus in mineral deposits from Ojcow, near to Krakow, Poland, was carried out in this laboratory among others. Therefore, in this laboratory, Marie came to master the chemical laboratory techniques that would later be needed to isolate polonium and radium from uranium ore. The next step in Marie's systematic studies included three uranium minerals: pitchblende, chalcolite torbenite and autunite. Her electrometer showed that pitchblende was four times as active as metallic uranium itself, and chalcolite was twice as active. They did not realize at the time that what they were searching for was present in such minute quantities that they would eventually have to process tons of the ore. Here Marie assumed the role of the chemist, extracting and purifying the fraction containing the elements searched for, while Pierre focused on helping her with the physical mainly electrical measurements.