PIERRE CURIE
Pierre Curie (1859 - 1906)
Pierre Curie was born in Paris on May 15, 1869. He was educated at home by his
father, a general medical practitioner. He showed a strong aptitude for
mathematics and geometry even in his early teens. In 1880, Pierre and his older
brother Jacques demonstrated that an electric potential was generated when
crystals were compressed, and the next year they demonstrated the reverse effect:
that crystals could be made to deform when subject to an electric field. Almost
all digital electronic circuits now rely on this phenomenon, known as
piezoelectric effects, in the form of crystal oscillators.
By age 18, Curie had completed the equivalent of a higher degree. Due to lack of
money, he did not immediately pursue his doctorate, but worked as a laboratory
instructor. Eventually, he entered the Faculty of Sciences at the Sorbonne. He
gained his Licenciateship in Physics in 1978 and continued as a demonstrator in
the physics laboratory until 1882, when he was placed in charge of all practical
work in the Physics and Industrial Chemistry Schools. In 1895, he obtained his
Doctor of Science degree and was appointed Professor of Physics. In 1900, he was
promoted to Professor in the Faculty of Sciences, and in 1904 he became Titular
Professor.
Curie later studied magnetism, showing that the magnetic properties of a given
substance of a given substance change at a certain temperature; that temperature
is now known as the Curie point. To assist in his experiments, he constructed
several delicate pieces of apparatus including balances, electrometers,
piezoelectric crystals.
Curie's studies of radioactive substances were made together with his wife Marie,
also a professor at the Sorbonne, whom he married in 1895. They announced the
discovery of radium and polonium by fractionation of pitchblende in 1898 and
later did much to elucidate the properties of radium and its transformation
products. Their work in this era formed the basis for much of the subsequent
research in nuclear physics and chemistry. Together, they were awarded half of
the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 on account of their study into the
spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of
the prize. Along with his wife, Curie was awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal
Society of London in 1903, and in 1905 he was elected to the Academy of Sciences.
Curie died on April 19, 1906, as a result of a carriage accident in a rainstorm
while crossing the rue Dauphine in Paris. Both Pierre and Marie were enshrined
in the crypt of the Pantheon in Paris in 1995. Their daughter Irene Joliot-Curie
and their son-in-law Frederic Joliot-Curie were also physicists involved in the
study of radioactivity.
The curie is a unit of radioactivity originally named in honor of Pierre Curie
by the Radiology Congress in 1910, after Curie's death.
Pierre Curie (1859 - 1906)
Pierre Curie was born in Paris on May 15, 1869. He was educated at home by his
father, a general medical practitioner. He showed a strong aptitude for
mathematics and geometry even in his early teens. In 1880, Pierre and his older
brother Jacques demonstrated that an electric potential was generated when
crystals were compressed, and the next year they demonstrated the reverse effect:
that crystals could be made to deform when subject to an electric field. Almost
all digital electronic circuits now rely on this phenomenon, known as
piezoelectric effects, in the form of crystal oscillators.
By age 18, Curie had completed the equivalent of a higher degree. Due to lack of
money, he did not immediately pursue his doctorate, but worked as a laboratory
instructor. Eventually, he entered the Faculty of Sciences at the Sorbonne. He
gained his Licenciateship in Physics in 1978 and continued as a demonstrator in
the physics laboratory until 1882, when he was placed in charge of all practical
work in the Physics and Industrial Chemistry Schools. In 1895, he obtained his
Doctor of Science degree and was appointed Professor of Physics. In 1900, he was
promoted to Professor in the Faculty of Sciences, and in 1904 he became Titular
Professor.
Curie later studied magnetism, showing that the magnetic properties of a given
substance of a given substance change at a certain temperature; that temperature
is now known as the Curie point. To assist in his experiments, he constructed
several delicate pieces of apparatus including balances, electrometers,
piezoelectric crystals.
Curie's studies of radioactive substances were made together with his wife Marie,
also a professor at the Sorbonne, whom he married in 1895. They announced the
discovery of radium and polonium by fractionation of pitchblende in 1898 and
later did much to elucidate the properties of radium and its transformation
products. Their work in this era formed the basis for much of the subsequent
research in nuclear physics and chemistry. Together, they were awarded half of
the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 on account of their study into the
spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of
the prize. Along with his wife, Curie was awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal
Society of London in 1903, and in 1905 he was elected to the Academy of Sciences.
Curie died on April 19, 1906, as a result of a carriage accident in a rainstorm
while crossing the rue Dauphine in Paris. Both Pierre and Marie were enshrined
in the crypt of the Pantheon in Paris in 1995. Their daughter Irene Joliot-Curie
and their son-in-law Frederic Joliot-Curie were also physicists involved in the
study of radioactivity.
The curie is a unit of radioactivity originally named in honor of Pierre Curie
by the Radiology Congress in 1910, after Curie's death.