[C9T4P1]The life and work of Marie Curie
Marie
Curie is probably the most famous woman scientist who has ever lived.
玛丽·居里可能是有史以来最有名的女科学家。
Born
Maria Sklodowska in Poland in 1867, she is famous for her work on
radioactivity , and was twice a winner of the Nobel Prize.
玛丽亚·斯克罗多夫斯卡于 1867 年在波兰出生，因放射性研究而著名，并且是两次诺贝尔奖的得主。
With her husband,
Pierre Curie, and Henri Bccqucrel, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for
Physics, and was then sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
她与丈夫皮埃尔·居里同亨利·贝克勒尔一起被授予了 1903 年的诺贝尔物理学奖，之后她还单独获得了 1911 年的诺贝尔化学奖。
She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
她是第一位获得诺贝尔奖的女性。
From
childhood, Marie was remarkable for her prodigious memory, and at the age of 16
won a gold medal on completion of her secondary education.
从童年时代开始，玛丽就表现出了惊人的记忆力，并在 16 岁完成中学教育时获得了金牌。
Because her
father lost his savings through bad investment, she then had to take work as a
teacher.
因为其父亲投资失败失去了积蓄，她不得不当起了教师。
From her earnings she was able to finance her sister Bronia's
medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that Bronia would, in turn,
later help her to get an education.
她从自己的收入中拿钱供妹妹波妮娅在巴黎学医，她了解，波妮娅将来也会反过来帮助她接受教育。
In 1891
this promise was fulfilled and Marie went to Paris and began to study at the
Sorbonne (the University of Paris).
1891 年，这个承诺兑现了。玛丽去了巴黎，开始在索邦大学（巴黎大学）学习。
She often worked far into the night and
lived on little more than bread and butter and tea.
她经常学习到深夜，只靠吃面包、黄油和茶为生。
She came first in the
examination in the physical sciences in 1893, and in 1894 was placed second in
the examination in mathematical sciences.
1893 年，她取得了物理学考试的第一名，并在 1894年获得数学考试第二名。
It was not until the spring of
that year that she was introduced to Pierre Curie.
直到那年春天，她才结识了皮埃尔·居里。
Their
marriage in 1895 marked the start of a partnership that was soon to achieve
results of world significance.
1895 年，他们结为夫妻，这标志着他们合作伙伴关系的开始，并且很快他们就取得了具有世界意义的成就。
Following Henri Becquerel's discovery in
1896 of a new phenomenon , which Marie later called ' radioactivity ', Marie Curie
decided to find out if the radioactivity discovered in uranium was to be found
in other elements.
继亨利·贝克勒尔在 1896 年发现一个新现象之后（玛丽后来称之为“放射性”），玛丽·居里决定要找出铀里面发现的放射性是否也存在于其他元素中。
She discovered that this was true for thorium.
她发现，钍里面有。
Turning
her attention to minerals, she found her interest drawn to pitchblende, a
mineral whose radioactivity , superior to that of pure uranium, could be
explained only by the presence in the ore of small quantities of an unknown
substance of very high activity.
随着把注意力转向矿物质，她发现自己对沥青铀矿产生了兴趣。这种矿物质的放射性优于纯铀矿石的放射性，其放射性只能够通过它存在于少量的一种未知的非常高活性的矿石中得到解释。
Pierre Curie joined her in the work that
she had undertaken to resolve this problem, and that led to the discovery of
the new elements, polonium and radium .
皮埃尔·居里加入进来和她一起解决这个问题，这也就导致了新元素的发现，即钋和镭。
While Pierre Curie devoted himself
chiefly to the physical study of the new radiations, Marie Curie struggled to
obtain pure radium in the metallic state.
皮埃尔·居里主要致力于这些新的辐射物的物理学研究，而玛丽·居里则想努力获取金属状态下的纯镭。
This was achieved with the help
of the chemist Andre-Louis Debierne, one of Pierre Curie's pupils.
这一努力在化学家安德烈·路易斯·德贝尔恩的帮助下实现了，安德烈是皮埃尔·居里的一名学生。
Based on
the results of this research, Marie Curie received her Doctorate of Science,
and in 1903 Marie and Pierre shared with Becquerel the Nobel Prize for Physics
for the discovery of radioactivity .
凭借这项研究成果，玛丽·居里获得了理学博士学位，并且，在 1903 年，由于放射性的发现，玛丽和皮埃尔及贝克勒尔共同获得了诺贝尔物理学奖。
The
births of Marie's two daughters, Irene and Eve, in 1897 and 1904 failed to
interrupt her scientific work.
玛丽的两个女儿艾琳（1897 年）和夏娃（1904 年）的出生都没能中断她的科研工作。
She was appointed lecturer in physics at the
Ecole Normale Superieure for girls in Sevres, France (1900), and introduced a
method of teaching based on experimental demonstrations.
1900 年，她被法国的塞夫勒巴黎高等师范女子学校任命为物理学讲师，她引入了一种基于实验示范的教学方法。
In December 1904
she was appointed chief assistant in the laboratory directed by Pierre Curie.
1904 年 12 月，她被任命为皮埃尔·居里负责的实验室的首席助理。
The
sudden death of her husband in 1906 was a bitter blow to Marie Curie, but was
also a turning point in her career: henceforth she was to devote all her energy
to completing alone the scientific work that they had undertaken.
1906 年，她丈夫的突然去世对玛丽·居里来说是一个沉重的打击，但也是她职业生涯的一个转折点：从此以后，她投入了所有的精力去单独完成他们之前一起从事的科学工作。
On May
13, 1906, she was appointed to the professorship that had been left vacant on
her husband's death, becoming the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne.
1906 年5 月 13 日，她接替了因其丈夫去世而空缺出来的教授职位，成为第一位在索邦大学任教的女性。
In
1911 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the isolation of a pure
form of radium .
1911 年，她因纯镭的提取而被授予诺贝尔化学奖。
During
World War I, Marie Curie, with the help of her daughter Irene, devoted herself
to the development of the use of X-radiography, including the mobile units
which came to be known as 'Little Curies', used for the treatment of wounded
soldiers.
在第一次世界大战期间，玛丽·居里在她的女儿艾琳的帮助下，致力于开发 X- 射线的应用，其中包括用于治疗受伤士兵的移动设备 ( 后来被称为“小居里”)。
In 1918 the Radium Institute, whose staff Irene had joined, began
to operate in earnest, and became a centre for nuclear physics and chemistry.
1918 年，镭研究所开始正式运作，并逐渐发展成为一个核物理与化学研究中心。
Marie Curie, now at the highest point of her fame and, from 1922, a member of
the Academy of Medicine, researched the chemistry of radioactive substances and
their medical applications.
这个时期，玛丽·居里的名声达到了顶点，而且从 1922 年起，作为医学学会的一员，她研究放射性物质的化学特质及它们的医学应用。
In 1921,
accompanied by her two daughters, Marie Curie made a triumphant journey to the
United States to raise funds for research on radium .
1921 年，在她两个女儿的陪同下，玛丽·居里进行了一次愉快的美国之旅，在此期间她还募集资金用于镭研究。
Women there presented
her with a gram of radium for her campaign: Marie also gave lectures in
Belgium, Brazil, Spain and Czechoslovakia and, in addition, had the
satisfaction of seeing the development of the Curie Foundation in Paris, and
the inauguration in 1932 in Warsaw of the Radium Institute, where her sister
Bronia became director.
美国的妇女为了支持她的活动赠送给了她一克镭。此外，玛丽也在比利时、巴西、西班牙和捷克斯洛伐克举办了讲座，她还满意地看到巴黎的居里基金会的发展和 1932 年镭研究所在华沙的创立，研究所由她妹妹波妮娅担任所长一职。
One of
Marie Curie's outstanding achievements was to have understood the need to
accumulate intense radioactive sources, not only to treat illness but also to
maintain an abundant supply for research.
玛丽·居里的杰出成就之一是她已经明白需要积累强烈的放射源，以治疗疾病和维持对研究的充足供应。
The existence in Paris at the
Radium Institute of a stock of 1. 5 grams of radium made a decisive
contribution to the success of the experiments undertaken in the years around
1930.
巴黎镭研究所储存的 1.5 克镭为 1930 年左右所做的实验的成功做出了决定性的贡献。
This work prepared the way for the discovery of the neutron by Sir
James Chadwick and, above all, for the discovery in 1934 by Irene and Frederic
Joliot-Curie of artificial radioactivity .
这项工作为詹姆斯·查德威克爵士发现中子，最重要的是为 1934 年艾琳和弗雷德里克·约里奥·居里发现人工放射性，做好了铺垫。
A few months after this
discovery, Marie Curie died as a result of leukaemia caused by exposure to
radiation .
这一发现过了几个月之后，玛丽·居里死于因受到辐射而引发的白血病。
She had often carried test tubes containing radioactive isotopes
in her pocket, remarking on the pretty blue-green light they gave off.
她经常在口袋里携带含有放射性的同位素的试管，并观察它们所发出来的漂亮的蓝绿色的光。
Her
contribution to physics had been immense , not only in her own work, the
importance of which had been demonstrated by her two Nobel Prizes, but because
of her influence on subsequent generations of nuclear physicists and chemists.
她对物理学的贡献是巨大的，不仅因为她自己的工作——其重要性已经通过两次获得诺贝尔奖得到了证明，而且也因为她对后来的核物理学家和化学家所产生的影响。
