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The Curie legacy—and the results from this
true marriage of minds—is far-reaching.

• The Curie family holds the most Nobel Prizes
awarded to a single family 1
• Their children and grandchildren also became
important scientists. 2
4
3
• Curie scoring and the element curium
are named for them.
5
• The unit of measure for measuring radioactivity ,
6
Curie’s law (later Curie-Weiss law) ,
7
Curie temperature/Curie point (TC) ,
8
Curie constant (C) , and Curie’s principle
are named for Pierre Curie.
• The Curie balance (Curie scale), a quartz balance,
9
was constructed by Pierre Curie and is still used today .
Fig. 1: Pierre Curie
Women physicists were a rarity in the 19 century,
th
but even rarer were husband-and-wife collaborative At age 14, Pierre entered the Sorbonne and began
teams. Pierre and Marie Curie not only made history his university studies. It was there that he conducted
in that respect, but also because their scientific his first work calculating of the wavelength of heat
teamwork led to the discovery of radioactivity waves. While preparing for his undergraduate
and two new elements in the periodic table, degree, Pierre worked as a laboratory assistant.
for which they shared the Nobel Prize in Physics. At age 16, he earned his Bachelor of Science in
Physics. In 1878 at age 18, he had completed the
To understand and appreciate the importance of equivalent of an American Master of Science
the seismic—or shall we say, atomic—event that in Physics. He didn’t proceed immediately to
occurred in the world of science when these two a doctorate due to a lack of money, working instead
brilliant minds collided, we first need to learn a bit as a laboratory instructor and demonstrator in charge
about who they were as individuals and what drove of the physics students’ lab work until he could return
them towards each other and their mutual love of to his research.
physics, chemistry, and discovery.
One of Pierre’s major preoccupations was the
Pierre Curie (b.1859 – d.1906) problem of the distribution of crystalline matter
French physicist and physical chemist, Pierre Curie, according to the laws of symmetry. Jacques was
is often overlooked in favor of Marie Skłodowska working in the mineralogy laboratory at the Sorbonne
Curie, his brilliant student, and later, his wife and at that time, and the two began a productive five-year
laboratory partner. Widely considered one of the scientific collaboration—Pierre's first.
“founding fathers” of modern physics, he pioneered
scientific work in the fields of crystallography , • In 1880, they demonstrated that an electric
10
magnetism, and piezoelectricity. More than two voltage was generated when crystals were
decades before being awarded the Nobel Prize compressed (piezoelectricity). To aid this work,
in Physics, he had already distinguished himself Pierre invented several delicate pieces of
(along with his older brother Jacques) in the study apparatus, including the piezoelectric
11
of the properties of crystals. The unorthodox nature quartz electrometer .
of his education, however, meant that Pierre • In 1881, they demonstrated the reverse effect:
was never quite accepted by the French that crystals could be made to deform when
scientific establishment. subject to an electric field. (Almost all digital
electronic circuits now rely on this in the form
A child prodigy who showed an extraordinary of crystal oscillators.)
aptitude for mathematics and geometry—in
particular, spatial geometry (which later helped During this time, Pierre continued his work as a
in his work on crystallography), Pierre was educated demonstrator in the Sorbonne’s physics laboratory
at home by his father, Eugene Curie, a physician who until 1882 when he was appointed supervisor of
believed that his son’s intellect and personality could all practical work in the Physics and Industrial
be best nurtured through private tutoring. Chemistry Schools.
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