Maria Sklodowska and Pierre Curie: "My soul follows you "

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Maria Sklodowska and Pierre Curie are two scientific luminaries ahead of their time. There were two connecting threads in their life - love for each other and a passion for scientific research. These threads tied them tightly for life, and intertwined so that it was already impossible to understand which one was the main one. Science was for Mary and Pierre the dream and goal of their entire lives, and love for each other gave strength and inspiration.

Maria Sklodowska

This truly great woman's life has never been easy. Father, Vladislav Sklodowski, a physics teacher in Warsaw, mother Bronislaw Boguska was the director of the gymnasium, and five children grew up in the family. Sometimes there was not enough money for the most necessary. Nevertheless, the father in every possible way encouraged the craving of his children for knowledge.

Maria and Bronya, her sister firmly decided that they would study, no matter what it cost them. The situation was complicated by the fact that women at that time were not admitted to higher institutions. I should have gone to a more democratic Paris. Maria invited her sister to study in turn and gave Bronya the right to be the first to get an education. While one sister was studying, the second had to earn her support.

Maria got a job as a governess in a wealthy family who lived on a large estate near Warsaw. It was there that she met her first love. Kazimierz was the eldest son of the owners and fell in love with the sweet and rather intelligent governess of his cousins.

But the whole family resisted the guy's desire to marry the girl who captivated his heart. The father categorically did not want to accept a poor girl into the family, and even his own servant. And Kazimierz did not dare to disobey his father, he dutifully parted with Maria. After such a betrayal and a manifestation of weakness on the part of the young man, she promised herself that she would never get involved with men at all.

Sorbonne

Fortunately, Bronya finally graduated from the university and invited Maria to Paris. Bronya managed to get married and take on her sister's support, thanks to whom she received the profession of a doctor. Maria Sklodowska entered the Sorbonne and began to absorb knowledge so eagerly that she often forgot about everything in the world. She was not embarrassed by either worn-out shoes or a dress worn out to thinning. She didn't notice if she ate at all or not. She desperately learned science, she was interested in everything related to physics, mathematics, chemistry. One day, a girl just fainted in hunger, right in front of her sister's husband.

But everything seemed unimportant to her, except for science. Science was her goal, passion, love. It looked like a fragile little flower, but the stem of this flower was truly steel. No external circumstances could force her to deviate from the path that she blazed for herself in science.

Her diligence, diligence and special talent as a researcher were noticed and appreciated. She was a really brilliant student with a physics degree and a year later mathematics. After graduating from the Sorbonne, she was given the right to conduct independent scientific activities.

Pierre Curie

Pierre's childhood could be called cloudless. Medical parents and lack of school discipline. The creative nature of the future genius did not recognize any restrictions. He simply could not accept collective obedience. The parents did not break the child and transferred him to home schooling.

Thanks to this, Pierre began to study with great pleasure and at the age of 16 he became a bachelor of the Sorbonne. By the age of 18, the young man was already working in the laboratory with his older brother, with whom he made the first discovery - the piezoelectric effect.

At 35, Pierre Curie was already a famous physicist. True, his works were more popular abroad, in France, his works were treated quite restrainedly, but with his personal life, everything was far from rosy. Pierre was not at all amorous. His nature wanted not only physical union with a woman, but rather spiritual union. Pierre wanted the girl to share his views on science, his passion for research. However, the young ladies of that time could rarely boast of aspirations for scientific activity.

We were created to live together, and our marriage was to take place

The first meeting between Mary and Pierre took place in the spring of 1894 at the house of Józef Kowalski. Perhaps she really was predetermined by fate itself. Maria immediately noticed a man who seemed very young to her. She drew attention to his slightly naive smile, thoughtful, slightly slowed down speech, clear eyes. For the first time in many years, the girl felt sympathy for a man.

Pierre fell in love with her hands, which were all in wounds from the acid that got on the skin during the experiments. The pragmatist, physicist, genius of scientific thought was fascinated not so much by its beauty as by the sobriety of the mind, the clarity of scientific thought, the sparkle of the discoverer's eyes. He was surprised by her deep knowledge of science, but she was touched by his serious and such a boyish smile at the same time.

Pierre and Maria immediately found many common topics of conversation. They worked together in the laboratory, talked for a long time and everyone understood that they could not be simple comrades in science.

The man proposed and introduced his beloved to his family. And he was refused. Maria was still afraid to allow a man too close to her life, she had long wanted to devote herself only to scientific research. In addition, being an ardent patriot of her country, she planned to return to Poland.

But Curie was simply amazed at her desire to work in Warsaw, there were absolutely no conditions for this. He urged Mary to reconsider her decision, he believed that her inquiring mind would not stand the test of inaction. The whole family of Pierre began to persuade the girl to stay in order to do what she loved. In the end, Maria gave up. She made a fateful decision for herself: to stay in Paris in the name of science and in the name of love. She agreed to become Pierre's wife. On July 26, 1895, the wedding of the brilliant couple took place. She was modest and few in number, only the closest people gathered to share the joy of Pierre and Mary.

Physics of love

After the wedding, the young people went on their honeymoon on two bicycles presented to them by one of their cousins in honor of the marriage. They rode on their two-wheeled horses along the roads of the Ile-de-France and had endless scientific conversations, while enjoying the beautiful views around. They stayed in small hotels for the night, so that they would hit the road again in the morning. Breakfasts in picturesque meadows, bottomless sky and they, beautiful and in love.

Returning to Paris, the newlyweds settled in a small apartment of three rooms. They did not need extra furniture that could only take away energy during cleaning. They generally needed little, except for their favorite pastime and each other.

Maria was madly in love with stroking Pierre's hair, kissing his clear eyes. He still grabbed her hands to touch them with his lips. They were in love, happy and united by one thing. Ahead of them were joint discoveries, joint tireless work and endless service to science.

In 1897, the eldest daughter Irene was born in the family. But this does not interfere with Maria at all to conduct research, set up experiments, make discoveries. He and Pierre are still passionate about research. In 1903 they will receive the Nobel Prize in Physics together, and in 1904 their second daughter, Eva, will be born.

Shooting star

The happiness of this family seemed endless and immeasurable. Discoveries followed one another. They strove to invest every penny they earned in science. They didn't need money for wealth and comfort. They needed money to be able to move on. And they stubbornly walked forward. They were always and in everything together.

On April 19, 1906, Pierre Curie died under the wheels of a horse-drawn carriage. Maria was very upset about the death of her lover, but at the same time she considered herself not entitled to show her grief. She still went to work, did her research. But everything she did was dedicated to her husband. She had long conversations with him in her diary, talking about the flowers that she met on the way to work, about her experiments and experiences. He was not there in the physical world, but in the spiritual his image accompanied Mary everywhere. When she was offered to take his course at the Sorbonne, she began it with the words with which he finished. The whole audience cried as they listened to this strong woman.

Maria Sklodowska-Curie did everything for the memory of her brilliant husband. After the death of her husband, she did not marry anymore, giving all her strength to the business that they began with Pierre. Irene, their eldest daughter, will follow in the footsteps of her parents, she will also receive the Nobel Prize.

In her life there will be new discoveries, another Nobel Prize, many awards. And her endless love will always remain with her. Her Pierre Curie.

Not all couples manage to carry love and tenderness through their whole lives, especially if they are people from a creative environment, and their life is full of events and emotions. History may seem like a real fairy tale Lyudmila Kasatkina and Sergey Kolosov - actress and director.