WOMEN IN CHEMISTRY 



worked together in perfect unity of thought and aspira- 

 tion before the sudden and premature extinction of the 

 husband's life gave such a shock to the entire scientific 

 world. 



After her marriage the gifted young Polish woman had 

 reached the goal of her ambition. She was able to devote 

 herself exclusively to what was henceforth to constitute her 

 life work in one of the best laboratories of Paris, that of 

 the Ecole de Physique et de Chimie, and that, too, in col- 

 laboration with her husband, from whom she was never 

 separated during the entire period of their married life 

 for even a single day. 



It was about this time that Mme. Curie had her interest 

 aroused by the brilliant discoveries of Rb'ntgen and Bec- 

 querel regarding radiant matter. After a long series of 

 carefully conducted experiments on the compounds of 

 uranium and thorium, she, with the intuition of genius, 

 opened up to the world of science an entirely new field of 

 research. But she soon realized that the labor involved in 

 the investigations which she had planned was entirely be- 

 yond the capacity of any one person. It was then that she 

 succeeded in enlisting her husband 's interest in the under- 

 taking which was to lead to such marvelous results. 



Confining their work to a careful analytical study of the 

 residue of the famous Bohemian pitchblend an extremely 

 complex mineral, largely composed of oxide of uranium 

 they soon found themselves confronted by most extraordi- 

 nary radioactive phenomena. Continuing their researches, 

 their labor was rewarded by the discovery of a new element 

 which Mme. Curie, in her enthusiasm, named in honor of 

 the land of her birth, polonium. 



As their investigations progressed, they became corre- 

 spondingly difficult. They were dealing with substances 

 which exist in pitchblend residue only in infinitesimal quan- 

 tities not more than three troy grams to the ton. The 

 difficulties they had to contend with were enough to dis- 



