1. The Curies refers to the husband and wife team of French scientists. Pierre Curie (1859-1906) and his wife, Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934), who got married in 1895, are known for their work on radioactivity and on radium. Pierre discovered (1883) and, with his brother, investigated piezoelectricity in crystals. Following Antoine Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity, Marie began to study radium. Together the Curies discovered polonium and radium. For their work on radioactivity, they shared with Becquerel the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics. Marie Curie became the first person to be awarded a second Nobel Prize when she received the 1911 chemistry prize for isolating radium and studying its chemical properties. Please visit the web sites http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95nov/curie.html and http://www.admp6.jussieu.fr for more information about the Curies.
2. Poland: The web site http://www.polandonline.com would help you to have some general ideas about the country Poland.
3. Paris: You are invited to have a look at the web site http://www.paris.org for more information about the city Paris.
4. X ray refers to invisible, highly penetrating electromagnetic radiation of much shorter wavelength (higher frequency) than visible light. Discovered by Wilhelm Roentgen, X rays are produced by the impact of high-energy electrons on a metal anode in a highly evacuated glass bulb. Among other applications, X rays are used in medicine and in the study of crystal structure.
5. Henri Becquerel (1852-1908) is a French physicist. Professor at the Ecole polytechnique, Paris, from 1895, he discovered radioactivity in uranium in 1896. Further investigations of the phenomenon were made by Pierre and Marie Curie, and the three shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics.
6. Radium (Ra) is a radioactive metallic element, discovered in pitchblende in 1898 by Pierre and Marie Curie. It is a rare, lustrous, white alkaline-earth metal that resembles barium in its chemical properties. Radium compounds are found in uranium ores. The radioactivity of radium and its compounds is used in the treatment of cancer. Radium compounds are mixed with a phosphor in luminous paints. In its radioactive decay, radium emits alpha, beta and gamma rays and produces heat.
