One hundred and twenty-five years ago on December 21, 1898, Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre, discovered a new element they named radium because of the way it produced and released rays in energy. This important discovery was the first time a radioactive element could be used everyday, such as in medicine.
As a pioneering physicist and chemist, this was just the beginning of Curie's accomplishments which included being the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in two different fields. This is especially notable, since not many girls and women went into the science field at that time.
Marie's life story shows that you are never too young to love science. Learn how she became fascinated with physics and chemistry with two of my favorite titles.
Discover who Marie Curie was following her lifetime from childhood to Curie's later years. Readers won't want to miss out on the cool websites in the further information section.
I Am Marie Curie is perfect for younger readers wanting to learn how she became such an accomplished scientist. I love her quote, "Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
Check out more books about Marie Curie if you want to dig deeper.
Hopefully, you're inspired now by everything you've learned about Curie. If so, you can uncover some cool facts about chemistry and tackle some experiments yourself with these books. Have you ever wondered How Do Molecules Stay Together? You may think that chemistry is not all around us, but everyone uses it everyday even if you might not realize it! See if you can find radium and polonium, the two elements Marie discovered, in the Periodic Table located in the back matter.
I love Chemistry for Kids because not only does it have cool experiments but you learn about the chemist that discovered that concept. Kitchen Science for Kids is great for kids of all ages. Just remember to follow all of the safety hints!
What chemistry experiment are you looking forward to trying out?
Add a comment to: Happy 125th Anniversary, Radium!