What are facts about Marie Curie that changed the world?

Answer 1

Marie Curie is famous for discovering the element Radium, previously unknown. The history of this is an interesting progression, like so much in science. The physicist Roentgen discovered X-rays, and found that they would pass through solid matter, and also that they would affect photographic plates. The scientist Becquerel discovered that a mineral called pitchblende would affect these plates even through their wrappers, and suspected that the mineral was producing X-rays. This was puzzling, because Roentgen made X-rays using high voltages in a vacuum chamber, while pitchblende just sat there but somehow did the trick. Curie thought that there must be something unknown in pitchblende. She bought tons of it, and started trying to isolate something else from it. Eventually she managed to get a few grams of something from the tons of original stuff. This new substance were remarkable It was always warmer than its surroundings; it shone in the dark, and it produced something very like X-rays. The rate at which these three things were produced did not seem to diminish with time. She had produced a radioactive substance with a long half-life. Because it radiated light, heat and X-rays it became called Radium.

She discovered the properties in radium, polonuim, and uranium. She also found out the properties in X-rays were able to kill tumors.