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Marie Curie is born
Marie Curie was born November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland. She was the youngest of five children. Both of her parents were teachers. She followed in her dads footsteps who was a math and physics teacher. This is important because she would become the first women to win a Nobel Prize for discovering polonium and radium.
(Lassieur 7). -
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott published.
Little Women is published and is a best selling book. This book shows what life in poverty was like while their father is serving in a Civil War. This book teaches many important lessons.
(Teeple 371). -
Carson Benz patons the first automobile.
The first automobile is patented. This is important because the automobile would only evolve from the first model. People are constantly using automobiles everywhere today. It is a main form of transportation. They are still evolving today and becoming more advanced. Automobiles are more popular in todays world then ever.
(Teeple 379). -
Registered at Sorbonne for her Master of Science.
Marie registers at Sorbonne in Paris. When Marie graduated she was awarded the Alexandrovitch Scholarship for showing great intelligence. This allowed her to study and do further research in science and math. She could study abroad with this scholarship. This is important because she could start research further in depth and had a little more money to work in a lab.
(Stevens 144). -
Revival of the Olympic Games.
The Olympic Games are revived in Athens, Greece. The Games had happened before previously but had not participated in in a long time. These revived Olympics marked the beginning of the modern Olympics. There are more events and more athletes competing. This is important because the Olympics are so big today and the most important competition of athlete's lives if they make it. The Olympics recognize the best athletes in the world and in sports that aren't as commonly watched.
(Teeple383). -
Coined the term radioactivity.
Marie was intrigued by radiation. She experimented with uranium rays under different forms and conditions. She theorized that the rays came from the atomic structure of an element. She coined the term radioactivity to describe the phenomena. This is important because it would be the basis of all her work yet to come and other scientist's work with radiation.
(Biography.com editors). -
Began her work with her husband looking into radioactive readings.
Marie started her work with radioactivity by looking at the radioactivity of the rays given off by uranium ore. Uranium ore is in the mineral pitchblende. When she was studying pitchblende she noticed that it was a lot more radioactive than uranium itself. This is important because this made her realize that there must be other radioactive elements present in the mineral that no one had found before. This would lead to new discoveries.
("Marie Curie the Scientist"). -
Discovered Polonium.
Marie and Pierre Curie ground up pitchblende and dissolved them in acid. They extracted a black powder 330x more radioactive than uranium. They called it Polonium after Marie's home country, Poland. This discovery is important because it was revolutionary and would lead to more discoveries about radioactivity.
("Marie Curie the Scientist"). -
Found the existence of a new, more radioactive substance.
After dissolving pitchblende in acid and extracting polonium, The Curies noticed there was a liquid left behind that was extremely radioactive. They realized there must be an even more radioactive substance in even smaller quantities. The Curies told "l'Académie des Sciences" that they believe they have discovered another new substance. This ground breaking discovery will lead to advances in science and medicine.
("Marie Curie the Scientist"). -
Austrian Government supplies materials to the Curies.
After discovering the existence of a new radioactive substance the Curies set out to isolate it. The mineral pitchblende is extremely expensive and the Curies needed a lot of it to extract radium. The Austrian government supplied materials for them to use. This is important because this material was much cheeper and was in larger quantities. They had lots of material to try and extract radium.
(Pasachoff). -
Australia expands voting rights to women
Australia extends their voting rights to women. They allowed them to vote in elections for the two houses. This is important because Australia was the first country in the world to extend voting rights to women. Other nations would follow this ending women not having the right to vote.
(Gorman 160). -
Wins the Nobel Prize
Marie Curie wind the Nobel Prize in physics. Winning this Nobel Prize in 1903 made her the first women to win a Nobel Prize. This is important because Marie is being awarded and recognized for all her work. This will also open up opportunities for other female scientists.
("Marie Curie-Facts"). -
Baseball holds it's first World Series.
MLB holds it's first World Series. The World Series has been played every year since then except for 1904 and 1994. The World Series is currently happening right now and is very important for the players and for the fans. It is the most exciting series of the year and it is reward for all the work the players have out in in the 162 regular season games.
(Gorman 256). -
Successfully extracted radium as a pure element
In 1910 Marie finally produced radium as a pure element. Doing this proved the existence of the element. Pierre and Marie had theorized and had compelling evidence of the existence of this element, but this proved it. This is also important because radium could be used as treatment for cancer now that it was physically produced.
(Biography.com Editors). -
Completion of the Trans Siberian Railroad.
The Russian empire expanded into Siberia.The Trans Siberian Railroad is the longest railroad in Russia. This railroad is fully within the Russian territory. The completion of this railroad is important because it allows for transport to the new part of Russia. This allowed expansion and settlement.
(Gorman 1239). -
Curie visits the Americas.
In 1921 Marie Curie visited the Americas. There, she was gifted one gram of pure radium from the president. Radium was found to kill unhealthy tissue faster than healthy tissue so it could be used in treatment of cancer. This trip was important because she got to actually see radium being used to treat people with cancer since France was not advanced enough yet to do that. They called this cancer treatment "Curie therapy" then named after Marie for her discovery.
(Keller 59 and Stevens 146).
