Marie Curie, formerly known as Maria Skovodowska, was later married to the famous French scientist Pierre Curie, who was revered as Marie Curie, a famous Polish scientist, physicist and chemist in France.
In 1903, the Curies and Becquerel were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their research on radioactivity. In 1911, Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry again for the discovery of the elements polonium and radium, becoming the first person in the world to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the only female scientist to win the Nobel Prize twice, and marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes in two different fields, one for physics and one for chemistry, which is very valuable.
Marie Curie's achievements include pioneering radioactivity theory, inventing the technique of separating radioisotopes, and discovering two new elements, polonium and radium. Under her guidance, radioisotopes were used for the first time to treat cancer. Her life, extremely ordinary, but also extremely great, brilliant and glorious, she has many world firsts:
The first woman to receive a doctorate in science;
The first female professor at a French university;
The first woman to win the Nobel Prize;
The first to win the Nobel Prize twice;
The first to use radioisotopes to treat cancer;
The first mother and daughter to win the Nobel Prize;
Marie Curie was a great scholar, a great woman who devoted herself to her work and sacrificed herself for science, a patriot who always worked for extraneous responsibilities, both in war and in peace. Albert Einstein once said, "Of all the world's celebrities, Marie Curie is the only one who has not been spoiled by fame." ”
What was the childhood of such an outstanding scientist? Let's take a look.
Marie Curie was born on 7 November 1867 in Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland, to a family of secondary school teachers. His father, Uladislav Skorodovsky, was a mathematics and physics teacher at a secondary school with a very limited income, and his mother, Bronislova Boguska Skorodovska, was the principal of a girls' boarding school.
Marie Curie, whose original name was Maria Skorodovska, was the fifth and youngest in the family, with three older sisters: Sophie, Brony Schrava, Helena, and an older brother: Joseph. Unfortunately, when Maria was 9 years old, her eldest sister died of illness, and her mother died of grief and illness soon after.
Poland was under Russian rule at the time, and the Russians controlled public schools, all of which were taught in Russian, suppressing the national consciousness of the Poles. Later, the father lost his job, relying only on the small savings and the money to earn some money to teach other children at home, the life of the family is very difficult, but the difficult life not only cultivated Maria's ability to live independently, but also made her hone a very strong character from an early age.
Born out of oppression, Maria, who grew up under the iron shoe, did not understand why Polish children were not allowed to learn Polish, not to read Polish books, but also to study under the supervision of the Russian ombudsman.
Every night, my father recited Polish poetry and prose for his children and told her that "oppression produces resistance" and that "knowledge is power", arousing her strong desire to pursue knowledge and improve her academic performance. Since then, Mary has sown the seeds of love for the motherland and hatred for the invaders. The idea of studying for the liberation of the motherland churned through her mind.
Since then, Maria has studied very diligently, has a strong interest and special hobby in learning, never easily misses any opportunity to learn, and shows a tenacious enterprising spirit everywhere. Since elementary school, she has taken the first place in every homework.
She studied very attentively, and no matter how noisy she was, it could not distract her. Once, Maria was doing her homework, and her sister and classmates were singing, dancing, and playing games in front of her, and Maria was reading intently as if she hadn't seen it.
The sister and classmates tried to test her, and they quietly set up a few stools behind Maria, and as soon as Maria moved, the stools would fall down. Minute by minute, Maria finished reading a book, and the stool was still erect there. Since then, her sister and classmates have never teased her anymore, but have concentrated on reading and studying seriously like Maria.
Maria's father had studied physics at St. Petersburg University, and her father's thirst for scientific knowledge and strong dedication were also deeply influenced by Maria. From an early age, she loved the various instruments in her father's laboratory, and when she grew up, she read many books on natural sciences, which made her full of fantasies, and she was eager to explore the world of science.
However, after graduating from secondary school at the age of 15 with honors in the Gold Medal, Maria could not continue to go to university, because in Tsarist Poland, the university did not accept female students, and when she went to school in Paris, the family could not afford so much money. You know, the second sister, who also graduated from the Gold Medal, has been at home for 3 years, and her wish to go to Paris to study has not yet been realized.
Maria returned home, her father shed tears of grief because she could not afford to support his daughter's schooling, and Maria comforted her father while thinking of a way. In the end, it was decided that she would first earn money as a tutor for the second sister to go to school, and then provide her with school after the second sister had a job after graduation.
In this way, Maria took various courses on her own while doing tutoring, preparing for future studies, and finally in 1891, at the age of 24, she entered the Faculty of Science of the University of Paris.
After Maria arrived in Paris, she initially lived in the second sister's house, but the second sister's house was far from the school, and she had to spend a lot of time on the way to and from school. To save time and have a quieter learning environment, Maria moved to a small attic near the school.
The conditions in the little attic were very harsh, the water in the room was frozen in winter, and Maria was often awakened by freezing because she could not keep warm, and she had to get up and cover herself with all her clothes, and every day was a state of hunger and cold.
However, all the harsh conditions did not affect Maria's study in the slightest. She was always the first to come to the classroom early in the morning, sat down in the front seat, and listened intently to every lesson with a strong desire to learn. At 10 o'clock in the evening the lights of the library went out, and she reluctantly left and returned to her hut, where the kerosene lamp was often lit until two or three o'clock in the night.
Her hard work made her health worse and worse, but her academic performance has always been at the top of the list, which not only makes her classmates envious, but also amazes the professors. Two years after enrolling, she confidently took the Bachelor's Degree in Physics exam, finishing first out of 30 candidates. The following year, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics with a second place. The pale girl in a worn-out sweater graduated from the University of Paris in 1893 with first place.
Maria was not satisfied with her excellent grades, she continued to study, won the first doctoral laurel in human history for women, and then achieved more outstanding achievements.
It can be seen that Marie Curie can achieve such outstanding achievements, which are inseparable from her family, and her father's specialization in science and the family's learning atmosphere have influenced little Maria all the time. Therefore, in a family, learning is not a matter for children alone, and the sooner parents pay attention to the creation of a family learning atmosphere, the sooner they can cultivate their children's interest in learning.