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Pierre Curie (1859–1906)

1903 Physics

In recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel.

Working with his brilliant wife, Marie, Pierre Curie proved he was a man with a fierce intelligence and great capacity for work. He not only shared the task of “investigating the phenomenon of radiation discovered by Becquerel” with his wife — for which they received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics — the two also shared an intimate personal life.

Pierre Curie was born in Paris on the May 15, 1859. His father, a doctor, educated him at home until he entered the faculty of sciences at the Sorbonne. In 1878 he obtained a licentiate degree and continued at the Sorbonne as a demonstrator in the physics laboratory until 1882, when he became supervisor of all practical work in the Physics and Industrial Chemistry Schools. Finally obtaining his doctorate in sciences in 1895, Curie started lecturing in physics, and five years later he became a professor at the Faculty of Sciences. In 1904 he took on the role of titular professor.

Curie made his first discovery two years after obtaining his licentiate degree. In 1880, working with his brother Jacques, he discovered piezoelectric effects, the name given to a phenomenon observed in anisotropic crystals. The studies he carried out on the properties of crystals then led him to reflect on the general symmetry of physical phenomena, and in 1894 he formulated what is now known as the Curie principle, a symmetry principle that allowed scientists to predict the possibility or impossibility of numerous phenomena. A year later, Pierre discovered that below a certain temperature, which is still known as the Curie point, ferromagnetism is transformed into paramagnetism.

In 1895, after repeated proposals, Maria Sklodowska, a woman who had a great love of physics, finally accepted Pierre’s hand in marriage. From then on the couple did all their research together. Deeply interested in Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity, the pair went on to discover polonium and radium after separating and measuring all the elements contained in pitchblende. The world recognized this achievement in 1903 with the Nobel Prize in Physics. Unfortunately, due to Pierre and Marie’s ill health, which they blamed on the effects of prolonged exposure to radiation, the couple was unable to attend the ceremony. The monetary value of the Nobel Prize was important in helping the Curie family with their expenses and allowed them to offset the high costs of their research.

The Curies had two girls, Irène and Eve, the first of whom followed in her parents’ footsteps and, along with her husband Frédéric Joliot, received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Pierre Curie was struck and killed by a horse-drawn carriage on April 19, 1906, in Paris.

Henri Becquerel also received half the prize, and Marie Curie one-quarter.