The French physicist was a pioneer in the study of radioactivity and awarded with his wife Marie Curie the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Pierre Curie was born in Paris and by decision of his father, a family doctor, he was educated at home during the beginning of his schooling.
From an early age he showed a deep interest in mathematics and an ease in learning spatial geometry, which would be very useful in his later studies on crystallography.
Pierre Curie earned his degree in Physics while studying at the Sorbonne faculty, where he had an outstanding academic career as both student and professor.
In his first studies on crystallography discovered, working with his brother Jacques, the piezoelectric effects.
The phenomenon of piezoelectricity occurs when certain crystals produce electrical manifestations when subjected to mechanical stress.
Curie made important contributions to physics and after focusing her attention on magnetism, the magnetic properties of a substance change at a certain temperature. This temperature is now known as the “Curie Point”.
In the spring of 1894, Pierre Curie would meet Maria Sklodowska at the Sorbonne, a Polish scientist who, after marrying the Frenchman, would be known as Marie Curie.
Together they carried out important studies on radioactive substances and achieved very remarkable advances under conditions of notable difficulty, with financial complications and without ideal laboratory facilities.
In 1898 Pierre and Marie announced the discovery of two chemical elements, radium and polonium, making a decisive contribution to elucidating the properties of radium and its transformation products.
Their work formed the basis of much of the subsequent research in nuclear physics and chemistry.
Together they received half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for their study of spontaneous radiation discovered by Henri Becquerel, who received the other half of the award.
Pierre Curie died in a street accident on April 19, 1906 when he was run over by a horse-drawn vehicle in Paris.
The story is also news on Radio Perfil. Script by Nicolás Ziccardi and locution by Pita Fortín.
by Radio Profile
