Original name: Mary Skoro Dovska
Marie Curie (1867- 1934), a Polish, French physicist and chemist, is a world-famous scientist. She studied radioactive phenomena and discovered two radioactive elements, radium and polonium, and won the Nobel Prize twice in her life. As an outstanding scientist, Madame Curie has social influence that ordinary scientists do not have. Especially because she is a pioneer of successful women, her model has inspired many people. Many people heard her story when they were young, but they got a simplified and incomplete impression. The world's understanding of Madame Curie. It was greatly influenced by the biography Madame Curie published by her second daughter 1937. This book beautifies Madame Curie's life and deals with all the twists and turns she encountered in her life. American biographer susan quinn spent seven years collecting unpublished diaries and biographical materials, including Madame Curie's family members and friends. Last year, a new book, Maria Curie: A Life, was published, which described her hard, bitter and struggling life in more detail.
life experience
If you just look at your resume, it's easy to think that Maria Curie is just a successful scientist with smooth sailing. She was born in Warsaw, Poland on June 1867+0 1. There is a brother, three sisters, and both parents are teachers. She/kloc-graduated from high school with the first place at the age of 0/5. Then I worked as a tutor for several years. 189 1, I went to the Sorbonne, the merged university in Paris, and graduated from 1894 with two certificates in mathematics and physics. 1895, she married pierre curie, who taught at the Paris Institute of Industrial Physical Chemistry. 1897, her eldest daughter Ilyina was born in the autumn. Previously on ... She did magnetic research with gabriel lippmann of Paris University and published her first paper. At this time, in order to prepare her doctoral thesis, she started a new project in Pierre's laboratory, and Pierre soon joined his wife's work. Their experiment notes started from1897 65438+February 6th, and recorded the first observation of polonium on February 7th1898. After several months of follow-up analysis, they put forward two important findings in the report formally submitted to the French Academy of Sciences on July 18: one is the element polonium, and the other is the concept of R radioactivity. The discovery of purification of polonium and separation of another new element radium greatly stimulated chemical research; Radioactivity research is a breakthrough in the study of substance essence. 1903 In June, Madame Curie passed the thesis defense and was awarded the doctor's degree in physics. 165438+1At the beginning of October, the Curies were awarded the humphry davy Medal); Royal society; 165438+1In mid-October, I learned that becquerel and I won the Nobel Prize in physics in recognition of their research on radioactive phenomena. 1905 They got their second daughter Eve. Pierre died in 1906. 19 1 1 Madame Curie won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. In recognition of her discovery of polonium and radium. Madame Curie died in 1934. 1935, her eldest daughter, Elon, and her son-in-law Frederic Joliot-Curie won the Nobel Prize in chemistry (their scientific discoveries were known to Madame Curie when she was alive). 1937 Madame Curie, published by my second daughter, became a popular biography all over the world.
Finally, on190465438+February 6th, a chubby baby was born with black hair on his head. Another daughter: Eve.
The smile and play of the newborn baby make the young mother happy; Very young children always make her like them. In a gray notebook, Biography of Madame Curie 106, she recorded the earliest posture and teeth Eve could make at any time, just like what she had done to Irene before. As the baby grew up, Mary's nervous state gradually improved. The forced rest caused by childbirth relaxed her and restored her interest in life. She stroked her instrument with a happy mood, which she had forgotten. Soon she went to Seville to teach. She once wavered for a while, but now she has taken firm steps again and embarked on a difficult journey.
It's sunny, Bill feels much healthier and Mary is happier. Now they should fulfill their delayed responsibility: to give a Nobel lecture in Stockholm.
1905 On June 6th, Buel gave a speech at the Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on behalf of his wife and himself. He traced the consequences of the discovery of radium: in physics, this discovery greatly revised the basic principle; In chemistry, it causes some bold assumptions, which explain the source of energy that causes radioactive phenomena; In geology and meteorology, it is the key to explain previously unexplained phenomena; Finally, in biology, the effect of radium on cancer cells has been proved to be effective.
The house on Kellerman Avenue is like a fortress, refusing to be invaded by idle people; Bull and Mary still live a simple and secluded life in it. The worries about housework have been greatly reduced. A maid who does rough work undertakes all the heavy work. A handyman cooks and serves food; Biography of Madame Curie 107 When she looks at the hospitable attitude of her strange employer, she always opens her mouth in surprise and often waits for them to praise her barbecue or mashed potatoes.
One day, this simple woman couldn't help it. She stood in front of Buel and asked him in a firm tone how he thought he had just eaten a lot of fried steak, but his answer puzzled her.
The scholar murmured, "Did I eat fried steak?" Then he added soothingly: "Maybe I ate it!"
Even at the busiest time of work, Mary always sets aside time to take care of the children. Because of her position, she had to give her two daughters to the maid, but she didn't feel at ease until she personally confirmed that Irene and Eve slept well, ate well, washed clean, had no cold or any disease. If she doesn't pay attention occasionally, Irena must remind her! Irena is a very autocratic child, jealously monopolizing her mother and reluctantly letting her take care of "Xiao". In winter, Mary often walks a long way in Paris to find apples and bananas that Irene likes to eat. If she can't find it, she hardly dares to go home.
The couple spend most of the evening in plain clothes and slippers, leafing through scientific publications at home, or doing complex calculations in notebooks. But sometimes they go to art exhibitions and spend two hours in concerts and theaters seven or eight times a year.
If Mary invites people to her house occasionally, she always tries her best to make the dishes unsatisfactory and the house pleasant. She walked to Foda Road or Alexia Road, wandered around the car full of vegetables and fruits, selected good fruits, and solemnly asked the dairy merchant about the pros and cons of his various cheeses. Then she picked some tulips and lilacs from the flower seller's basket and went home. She tied the bouquet herself. The maid was very excited to prepare a slightly more complicated dish than usual, and the neighboring pastry merchant solemnly sent ice cream. In this hard-working family, the most casual party will cause these hectic things in advance. Finally, Mary checked the tableware, and the guests invited to move the furniture were either foreign colleagues passing through Paris or poles who brought news to Mary. Madame Curie also organized several children's parties because she was afraid of the strange Irene. She personally decorated the Christmas tree with garlands, walnuts wrapped in gold paper and candles of various colors, and left them in the happy memories of future generations.
On Kellerman Avenue, there are seven or eight close friends who often come home, such as Andre De Beer, Jean Peihan and his wife, Mary's best friend George Euban, paul langevin, Aimee Gordon, George Sagna, Cha Rieng-Ai Du A Jiyoum, and some girls and scholars from Sevres. They are all scholars!
On Sunday afternoon, when the weather is fine, these people gather in the garden. Mary sat in the shade beside Eve's car, sewing in her hand; However, her sewing and mending work did not prevent her from paying attention to all the conversations in Madame Curie's biography 109, which sounded much more profound to other women than discussing problems in Chinese.
These unusual conversations are sometimes mixed with some words full of human feelings: Dr. Curie talked about politics with De Beer and Langevin, and other people in the class laughed at Mary in a friendly way, criticized her simple clothes and accused her of neglecting dressing up, so the young lady was surprised when listening to this sudden class. Jean Pehan stopped talking about atoms and "infinitesimal things", raised his beautiful and enthusiastic face to the sky and began to sing songs in Gold on the Rhine or Famous Singer like Wagner's admirers. Far away in the garden, Mrs. Pehan is telling fairy tales to her child Ariane Francie and their companion Irene.
The Curies ushered in a new era. France takes note of them and hopes to support their efforts.
The first and essential step is to elect Boer as an academician of the Academy of Sciences. The scholar was visited for the second time.
His sponsors gave him a lot of thoughtful advice, fearing that he would not behave like a "wise candidate".
Pierre curie entered the Academy of Sciences on1July 3, 905, but reluctantly! Twenty-two academicians voted for his candidate, Mr. Jenet.
The Biography of Madame Curie 1 10 Boolean doesn't think highly of the academy. On the other hand, he pays close attention to the matters decided by Paris University for him. President Li Yaer has set up a physics lecture for him at 1904, and the long-awaited position of a real professor has finally come to hand! Before accepting this promotion, Buel asked him where the laboratory belonged to the position.
The lab? What lab? No lab!
Two Nobel Prize winners, radium's "parents", immediately found that if Bull left his position in the P.N. department to teach in Solburn, he could hardly do any work. There is no place for him to work in his new post. Of course, the two rooms provided by the P.N. department should be given to his successor, so he had to experiment in the street.
Bill wrote a polite and firm letter to the bosses with his wonderful writing style. Since the new position does not provide a studio or research fund, he is willing to resign and stay in the P. "N "department, still teaching so many hours. Mary and he can still do some useful work in that small place.
After several discussions, the University of Paris finally made an outrageous move, asking the house to create a laboratory and allocating 50,000 francs. This scheme has been adopted or almost adopted! There is no room for Boueyre in Solben, but two rooms can be built for him on Ju Weiye Road, and Mr. Curie 12000 francs can be given every year, plus 34,000 francs for equipment.
Biography of Madame Curie 1 1 1 Naive Boolean thought that he could buy instruments and supplement equipment with "equipment expenses". Yes, he can use it like this, but the cost of the new building must be raised from this small sum. The authorities treat the construction fee and the "equipment fee" as the same thing!
In this way, the usefulness of these official plans is reduced.
A rich woman was very moved when she learned about this situation. She volunteered to help the Curies and proposed to build a research institute for them in a quiet suburb. Pierre curie had hope. He told her his plans and wishes one by one.
Only one thing brought real happiness to the Curies. Buel will have three collaborators from now on: a laboratory director, an assistant and a worker.
The director of the laboratory is Mary. Until now, only this young woman has been allowed to work in the laboratory. Mary's research on radium is neither nominal nor remunerative. It was not until June 1904 1 1 that she was given a fixed position and salary-2400 francs a year! It was the first time that she officially entered her husband's laboratory.
They adapted to the new life. While preparing lessons in Buel, Mary was still teaching in Seville as before, and they met in the small laboratory on Ju Weiye Road. Andre De Beer, Albert Laborde, Duane, an American professor, and several assistants or students all continued their research in this laboratory, looking down at the thin equipment of Madame Curie Biography 1 12, which they were doing experiments at that time.
1906 Easter, sunny weather. Buel and Mary stayed in a quiet house in Shevliz-Saint-Remy for a few days.
They resumed their rural habits and took their daughters to a nearby farm to get milk every night. Eve is just fourteen months old, and her steps are very unsteady. She stubbornly tried to walk through the hard mud rut, which made Bull laugh.
On Sunday, when the bell rang in the distance, the couple went hiking in the Woods of Howaya Harbor by bike and brought back flowering branches and buttercups. The next day, Bull felt too tired to go out, so he lay lazily on the grass. The soft and lovely sunshine slowly dispelled the fog that enveloped the valley. Eve sat on the blanket and shouted, while Irene waved a small green net to chase butterflies and cheered loudly for the butterfly she rarely caught. Feeling hot, she took off her coat and put on a little girl's shirt and boy's shorts in a funny way. Bill and Mary snuggled up to each other and admired the beauty of their children.
Maybe that morning, maybe the first day, the charm and tranquility of intoxicating spring calmed Boolean down. He watched his two daughters jumping on the grass, and Mary lay motionless beside him.
He stroked his wife's cheek and blonde hair and whispered, "It's sweet to live by your side, Mary." 1906 April 19 It looks gloomy this Thursday. It's been raining and it's dark. Although the Curies were absorbed in their work, Madame Curie told us that she couldn't forget this April shower. On that day, Buel will attend the dinner of the Professors Association of the Academy of Sciences, go to his publisher Goteye Vial to see the proofs, and then go to the Academy of Sciences. Mary also has several classes to teach.
During the morning rush hour, the couple hardly met each other.
Bill called Mary downstairs and asked her if she would like to go to the lab. Mary is dressing Irene and Eve upstairs. She replied that she must not have time to go today-but her words were drowned out by the noise. The door slammed, Buel hurried out and left soon.
While Mary was having lunch with her daughters and Dr. Curie at home, Bill was having a cordial conversation with his colleagues in the hotel. He likes this kind of quiet party, where they talk about Thoburn, research and career. This general talk may suddenly lead to an accident in the laboratory, and Buel immediately drew up a rule to reduce the danger of researchers.
At half past two, he smiled and stood up to say goodbye to his friends and shook hands with Jean Pehan, who would meet again that night. Walking to the door, he casually looked at the sky, frowned at the rain clouds that day, then opened his big umbrella and walked to the Seine River area in the downpour.
When he reached Gautier's vial, he found the door closed: the workers were on strike. He turned and walked on Dauphine Road. The street is very noisy because of the shouts of coachmen and the harsh noise of trams passing near the pier. How crowded this narrow road in old Paris is! Almost only cars and horses can pass on the road, but there are too many pedestrians and the sidewalk is too narrow at this time of afternoon. Buel instinctively wants to find someone to walk less. Sometimes he walks on the stone pavement, sometimes he walks on the road, and his pace is very unstable. He was thinking, his eyes were focused and his expression was solemn. What's he thinking? Thinking about his ongoing experiment? Thinking about his friend Yu Jin's job? The paper that Yu Jin submitted to the Academy of Sciences is now in his pocket. Thinking about Mary?
He has been walking on the asphalt for a while, behind the cab of a car, which is slowly heading for Novo Bridge. At the intersection of this street and the pier, the noise becomes louder. A tram bound for Gongde just passed by the river, and a four-wheeled truck pulled two horses from the bridge, crossed the tracks and galloped into Dauphine Road.
Bill wants to cross the road and walk to the sidewalk over there. He suddenly moved absently and left the cover of the taxi. The square trunk of the car covered his sight. He took a few steps to the left and ran into a steaming animal. The van was crossing the carriage at this moment, and he hit a moving horse. The two cars approached like a whirlwind. Bull was startled and moved clumsily, trying to put it on the horse's chest, but it suddenly stood up on its hind legs. The scholar's sole slipped on the wetland and heard a loud cry, which caused a cry of fear. Madame Curie's biography 1 15 El has fallen under the iron hooves of two horses; Passers-by shouted, "Stop, stop!" The groom quickly pulled back the reins, but it was useless. The two horses are still galloping forward.
Buel fell to the ground, alive and unhurt. He didn't shout, barely moved, and the horseshoe and the two front wheels of the truck passed by him without hurting him. There may be miracles, but that huge car, carrying six tons of things, has to walk a few meters. The left rear wheel hit a weak obstacle and rolled over as soon as it turned. This is a forehead, a person's head. The skull was broken, and a red sticky thing splashed in the mud-pierre curie's brain.
Several policemen lifted the scalding body that was taken away at that moment. They called several taxis in succession, but the drivers didn't want to put a bloody and muddy body in the car. A few minutes later, curious people crowded together. The crowd gathered around the stationary truck and shouted angrily at the driver Luis Manan, who inadvertently caused the tragedy. Later, two men brought a stretcher and put the body on it. Before taking it to the nearby police station, they stopped at a drugstore uselessly, where they opened his wallet and checked his papers. When the news came out that the victims were Professor pierre curie and a famous scholar, people's commotion doubled immediately. Many people clenched their fists to hit the coachman Marnan, and the police had to step in to protect him.
Biography of Madame Curie 1 16 Dr. De Hué washed the mud off his face with a sponge, examined the big wound on his head, and counted 16 pieces of broken bones of the skull 20 minutes ago. People informed the college of science by telephone; Soon, in the small police station on Augustins Road, a sympathetic bureau chief and a secretary watched Mr. Claire, the physicist's assistant, bend over and cry. The driver Ma Nan blushed and cried.
Buel was lying among them with a bandage on his forehead, and his face was not hurt or covered. Now he doesn't care about anything
The van, five meters long and full of military uniforms, stopped in front of the door.
The rain washed away the blood on the wheel bit by bit.
Two big ponies, a little uneasy because their master was not around, hummed and knocked on the ground with their hooves.
Disaster suddenly came to Curie's door. Some cars and taxis wandered uneasily along the ancient Paris wall and then stopped on the desolate Kellerman street. The person sent by the presidential office of the Republic rang the doorbell in front of the door and heard that "Madame Curie didn't come back" and left without explaining the reason. The bell rang again, and Paul Appel, Dean of the Faculty of Science, and Professor Jean Peihan came in.
There is only Dr. Curie and a maid in this empty house. He was surprised to see these important guests. He stepped forward to meet the two men, and when he saw their faces, he looked very flustered. Paul Appel was ordered to inform Mary first, so he kept an awkward silence in front of her father-in-law.
At six o'clock, there was the sound of the key turning in the keyhole. Mary went out and told Madame Curie. Now she is at the door of the living room, happy and lively. From the overly respectful attitude of her friends, she vaguely saw terrible signs of mourning. When Paul Appel told the story, Mary was completely motionless and rigid, which made people believe that she didn't understand at all. She didn't throw in their kind helping hand. She didn't moan or cry. People say she is as lifeless and unconscious as a wooden head. After a long and terrible silence, her lips finally moved, and she whispered, eager to hear something negative: "Buel is dead? Dead? Really dead? "
A sudden disaster can completely change a person and never return to the original state; This is a very common thing, not new. Nevertheless, these few minutes did have a decisive influence on Mary's character and the fate of her and her daughters, which can not be ignored. Marie Curie did not change from a happy young wife to a hopeless widow. Her change is not simple, but serious.
The inner turmoil that broke Mary's heart and the nameless fear in her chaotic thoughts are too strong to be expressed by complaining or talking. As soon as the words "Buel is dead" appeared in her mind, there was a sense of loneliness and unspeakable secrets hanging over her heart, which she could never get rid of. On that day in April, Madame Curie became not only a widow, but also a hopeless lonely and poor woman.
Those who witnessed the tragedy felt the invisible wall between her and them. Their sad and comforting words only reached Mary's ears. Her eyes were dry and her face was pale and gloomy. She can't seem to hear what they are saying, and it is difficult to answer some of the most urgent questions. In a few simple words, she refused the last procedure of legal investigation-autopsy, and demanded that Bull's body be moved back to Kellerman Avenue. She asked her friends Mrs. Peihan and Irene to stay for a few days; She sent a telegram to Warsaw, "Bull died in an accident." Then she went to the wet garden and sat down, with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. She saw nothing, heard nothing, was lifeless and waited for her partner without saying a word.
Someone first brought her some poor relics found in Boer's pocket: a fountain pen, some keys, a wallet and a watch; The watch machine is still running and the lid is not broken. Finally, at 8 pm, an ambulance stopped in front of the house. Mary climbed into the car and saw the calm and kind face in the half-bright and half-dark light.
The stretcher was slowly carried into the narrow door with great difficulty. Andre de De Beer once went to the police station to transport the body of his friend and mentor, and now he is carrying this sad burden. They parked the deceased in a room downstairs, where Mary and her husband were alone.
She kissed his face, his soft body, almost still hot, and his stiff hands. People dragged her to the next room, not to see the dead. She seems to have obeyed unconsciously. After Madame Curie's biography 1 19, it suddenly occurred to her that these few minutes could not pass like this, nor could anyone else take care of the bloody body. She's back. Hold on to the body.
When Jacques Curie arrived the next day, Mary's tight throat relaxed and the floodgate of tears opened. She finally cried alone in front of her two dead brothers. Later, she stood firmly around the house and asked if anyone had bathed and freshened Eve as usual. She went to the garden to call Irene and talked to the children through the fence. She told the child that "Dad" had a serious head injury and needed to be quiet. The carefree child went to play again.
After a few weeks, Mary was completely silent and lonely because she couldn't express her sadness in front of people. This loneliness sometimes makes her cry out in fear. She opened a gray notebook and wrote down her suffocating thoughts with trembling. In these pages, which were altered everywhere, covered with tears and published only a few paragraphs, she talked to Boolean, called him and asked him questions. She tried to write down every detail that separated their tragedies and let this memory torment her forever. This short personal diary-Mary's first diary and her only diary-reflects the saddest period of this woman's life.
Mary lost her partner and the world lost a great man.
Such a cruel death in the rain and mud shocked public opinion, and newspapers all over the world reported the unfortunate incident of Madame Curie's biography 120 with several columns. Many letters and telegrams expressing sympathy were sent to Kellerman Street, signed by kings, ministers, poets, scholars and some unknown people. In bundles of letters, articles and telegrams, some of them are voices with real feelings.
Mary has become a machine, and even her children's eyes can't awaken her feelings. She was listless and in a trance, as if she had left the living.
The death of pierre curie raises some important questions: How to carry out the research work left by Bull? What about his teaching position in Thoburn? What about Mary's future?
Her relatives discussed these problems in a low voice, listening to the suggestions of the representatives of the Ministry and the school who came to Kellerman Avenue one after another. The day after the funeral, the government proposed to grant state pensions to pierre curie's widows and orphans. Jacques asked Mary for advice, but she totally refused. She said, "I don't want a pension. I am still young and can earn money to support me and my daughters. "
In this suddenly strengthened voice, for the first time, her usual courage echoed vaguely.
The authorities are unwilling to exchange views with the curies. The university intends to let Mary continue to work in the school, but what title should she be given? Which laboratory was she asked to work in? Can you make this talented woman listen to a director? Where can I find a professor position that can lead the laboratory of Madame Curie biography 12 1?
When asked about Madame Curie's own opinion, she replied blankly that she could not consider it yet. She didn't know, so the highest teaching position in France was given to a woman for the first time. Mary listened absently to her father-in-law describing some details of the important task she should accept, and only answered in a few words: "I'll try."
1906 16 on may 3rd, the faculty of science unanimously decided to leave the chair set by pierre curie, and this position was given to Mary in the name of "substitute teacher". Chapter 7 Struggle Alone People admire Mary. When she has a talent to support her, she can not only take care of the housework, but also complete the great scientific work she undertakes. But people think it is impossible for her to live harder and make greater efforts.
However, the responsibility of "widowed Madame Curie" will scare a strong, happy and brave person.
She must raise two children, provide for their living expenses and her own, and take up a good professorship. She lost pierre curie's outstanding spiritual wealth, but she must continue her research with this partner. His assistants and students have to be guided and taught by her, and there is also an important mission: to create a laboratory worthy of Buel, so that young researchers can develop a new radiology science in it, which Buel failed to realize.
Mary's first worry is to let her daughter and her father-in-law live a healthy life. She rented a house on Shemandefer Road in Suozhen, which is not very elegant, but it has a lovely garden, which makes the house look beautiful. Dr Curie lives alone in a separate room on this side. Irene got a piece of land and planted it freely with her. She felt extremely happy. Yves, looked after by the nanny, beat her favorite turtle in the grass and chased a black cat or a tabby cat in the narrow path.
Madame Curie did many things worth learning in her life. We should follow her example!