--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Harris, F. S. - Butt, N. I. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 28 number: 6 published: 1925-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "F. S. Harris and N. I. Butt, “Heroes of Science,” *Improvement Era 28, no. 6 (April 1925)*: 550–552." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2806unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2806unse start_page: 550 end_page: 552 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1925-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2806unse publication_year: 1925 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1925, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Heroes of Science HEROES OF SCIENCE By President F. S. Harris, and N. I. Butt, of th~ Brigham Young University 10. Mme. Curie To those who complain that they never have a chance to make good, the life of Madame Curie should be an inspiration. She was a poor, friendless, untutored Polish girl in the early nineties of the last century when she went to Paris to. secure an education. By the end of that decade, she was heralded as one of the world's greatest dis- coverers. Her fame is increasing as the full significance of her con- tributions become better known. Marie Sklodowska, who later became Madame Curie, was the daughter of a professor in the '.'Gymnasium" of Warsaw in Russia. She was born in 1867. In her girlhood days she spent much time in her father's laboratory where she very likely secured the interest in scientific investigation which later brought her fame. Her schooling was limited. At the age of 24, being forced to flee from Russia because of her association with the revolutionary party, she made up her mind to secure an education and devote her life to science. Arriving in Paris almost penniless she supported herself by doing little odd jobs such as washing bottles at the Sorbonne University, and she lived on bread and milk for months. Later she added to her earnings by private teaching. Miss Sklodowska was such an earnest and thorough student of mathematics and the sciences that she soon attracted the attention of the professor at the head of the department in which she worked. He gave her much of the encouragement and friendship needed in her struggle for success. Also it was through him that she met Pierre Curie who was studying the same field of science. Due to their common interests in science these two students soon developed a warm friendship and finally in 1895 they were married. For the next three years, while she was finishing the school work necessary for her college degree, she was devotedly using all her spare time in helping her husband with his work. Then, with her preparation complete, her abilities recognized, and her petition to carry on the work approved, she threw her whole efforts into the original scientific research she had so long been preparing herself to do. One of the subjects being actively investigated at this time was the peculiar light, given off by the newly discovered X-ray, which would penetrate substances opaque to ordinary light. These penetrating rays were found to come from a chemical substance called uranium. HEROES OF SCIENCE 55 1 It was in connection with the latter substance that Madame Curie began the work which soon brought fame through the discovery of the wonderful substance called radium. The first investigation was to test all substances to discover which gave off this peculiar light. Having solved this problem and dis- covered that a mineral called pitchblend is the best source of the rays, Madame Curie, together with her husband, undertook the tremendous task of finding whether the rays did not come from some new chemical substance within the mineral. Starting with a ton of the mineral, each particle of it was carefully examined by means of its action toward electricity. Thousands of the tiny bits had to be worked with to secure any of the active material they were seeking. When they finally completed the experiment they bad remaining out of the ton of mineral only a few pounds of the highly refined material in the test tubes of their laboratory. But even then it was discovered that part of this refined sub- stance (called polonium in honor of Madame Curie's native country) was made up of a part more active than the rest. Another long period of tedious chemical manipulation was necessary before the active principle, radium, was discovered in 1898. It required twelve years more before a method was discovered for reducing it to a chemically pure element. Out of the ton of material they began with, they secured a piece of radium perhaps the size of two or three dozen small grains of sugar. But what a storehouse of energy it proved to be! It contains more than a million times as much energy as an equal weight of coal. So much energy was stored in this tiny bit of material that it started scientists to investigating the energy in other materials. They found that all substances have a tremendous amount of energy, and if they can but learn the secrets of unlocking these stores of energy it will not take huge trains to carry coal about the country, because a very few ounces of fuel will be enough to run a large engine for a long time. So remarkable were the discoveries of the Curies both in finding radium and in studying it to learn of its many properties, that at three different times they were awarded the most highly prized medals and honors of the scientific world. In the spring of 1921 the women of America decided to show their appreciation of Madame Curie by presenting her with a gram — a small thimbleful — of radium for further experimentation. Al- though this quantity is only one twenty-seventh of an ounce, it has an actual cash value of hundreds of thousands of dollars. To get this quantity of radium, it required six hundred tons of ore, a thousand tons of coal, five hundred tons of chemicals, ten thousand tons of chemically pure water, and the labor of 500 men for six months. Such a reward to the woman who only 25 to 30 years before was nothing 552 IMPROVEMENT ERA but a poor Polish girl, should be an example to everyone of what determination will do. The appreciation shown Madame Curie brought tears to her eyes when she received it, but it did not spoil her as she always returns to her work with a grim resolution to live up to the expectations of her admirers. The first discoveries about radium were important but the sub- sequent ones have been almost revolutionary. The fact that it breaks up into entirely new chemical elements is completely changing some of our ideas concerning chemistry, physics, astronomy and geology. It has been found of great service in medicine and in many other branches of science. Its discoverers have rendered a great service to mankind. Provo, Utah. To My Son You told me that you'd like some lines By mother. Sammy boy, And so, my son, this New Year Eve To write them I will try. I hope you'll always want to be Advised by pa and me, And more 1 hope that always we Shall good advisers be. You know, when you first came to us 'Way back in nineteen-twelve, We thought you almost sweet enough To be a Fairy Elf. But since we've found you're very real And 'live to all that's going, Now we expect — your pa and I — Some day you'll make a showing. Honor the ones who gave you birth And to yourself be true; Remember you've been sent to earth A glorious work to do. Then put in your best effort here, A shining light to be, Be honest, brave, wise and sincere And from temptation flee. Be slow to fight a fellow friend For wrong he's done to you. But ready always to defend The old. the weak, the true. Be a good scout and mind your dues, And your religion, too. God bless you, son, and help you choose What's right for yours and you. Royal Oak, Mich. Lucy Wright Snow