View source for Pierre Curie

{{Short description|French physicist and chemist (1859–1906)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Pierre Curie
| image             = Pierre Curie by Dujardin c1906.jpg
| caption           = Curie, {{Circa|1906}}
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1859|05|15|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Paris]], [[Second French Empire|French Empire]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1906|04|19|1859|05|15|df=yes}}
| death_place       = Paris, [[French Third Republic|French Republic]]
| resting_place     = [[Panthéon]], Paris (since 1995)
| alma_mater        = [[University of Paris]] ([[Doctor of Science|DSc]]) 
| known_for         = {{Plain list|
* Discovery of [[polonium]] and [[radium]]
* Discovery of [[piezoelectricity]]
* [[Curie's law]]
* [[Curie's principle]]
}}
| spouse            = {{Marriage|[[Marie Curie|Maria Skłodowska]]|1895}}
| children          = {{Flat list|
* [[Irène Joliot-Curie|Irène]]
* [[Ève Curie|Ève]]
}}
| family            = [[Curie family|Curie]]
| awards            = {{Plain list|
* [[Davy Medal]] (1903)
* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1903)
* [[Matteucci Medal]] (1904)
* [[Elliott Cresson Medal]] (1909)
}}
| fields            = {{Flat list|
* [[Crystallography]]
* [[magnetism]]
* [[radiochemistry]]
}}
| work_institutions = {{Plain list|
* University of Paris
* [[ESPCI Paris]]
}}
| thesis_title      = Propriétés magnétiques des corps à diverses températures
| thesis_url        = https://archive.org/details/propritsmagntiq00curigoog/page/n13/mode/2up
| thesis_year       = 1895
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Gabriel Lippmann]]<ref name=MGP>{{Cite web|title=Pierre Curie - The Mathematics Genealogy Project|url=https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=129287|website=genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu|access-date=2025-05-30}}</ref>
| notable_students = {{Plain list|
* [[Marie Curie]]
* [[Paul Langevin]]<ref name=MGP/>
}}
| signature         = Pierre Curie signature.svg
}}

'''Pierre Curie''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|jʊər|i|,_|k|j|ʊ|ˈ|r|i}} {{Respell|KYOOR|ee|,_|kyoo|REE}};<ref>{{Cite web|title=Curie|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/curie|url-status=live|publisher=[[Dictionary.com]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250801164656/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/curie|archive-date=2025-08-01|access-date=2025-05-25}}</ref> {{IPA|fr|pjɛʁ kyʁi|lang}}; 15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French [[physicist]] and [[chemist]], and a pioneer in [[crystallography]] and [[magnetism]]. He shared one half of the 1903 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] with his wife, [[Marie Curie]], for their work on [[radioactivity]].<ref name=Nobel1903>{{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1903|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/index.html|url-status=live|publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017213248/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/index.html|archive-date=2008-10-17|access-date=2008-10-09}}</ref> With their win, the Curies became the [[List of couples awarded the Nobel Prize|first married couple]] to win a [[Nobel Prize]], launching the [[Nobel Prize#Family laureates|Curie family legacy]] of five Nobel Prizes.

== Education and career ==
Pierre Curie was born on 15 May 1859 in [[Paris]], France, the son of Eugène Curie (1827–1910), a doctor of [[Huguenot]] origin from [[Alsace]], and Sophie-Claire Depouilly (1832–1897). He was educated by his father, and in his early teens showed a strong aptitude for [[mathematics]] and [[geometry]].

In 1878, Curie earned his License in Physics from the Faculty of Sciences at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]], and he worked as a laboratory demonstrator until 1882,<ref name=aip>{{Cite web|title=Pierre Curie|url=https://history.aip.org/phn/11709002.html|url-status=live|publisher=[[American Institute of Physics]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211002648/https://history.aip.org/phn/11709002.html|archive-date=2021-02-11|access-date=2020-10-09}}</ref> when he joined the faculty at [[ESPCI Paris]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pierre Curie|url=https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/pierre-curie|access-date=6 November 2020|website=Atomic Heritage Foundation|language=en|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211002719/https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/pierre-curie|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1895, Curie received his [[D.Sc.]] from the Sorbonne and was appointed Professor of Physics.<ref name=aip/> The submission material for his doctorate consisted of his research on [[magnetism]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Marie Curie – A Student in Paris (1891–1897)|url=https://history.aip.org/history/exhibits/curie/stud1.htm|access-date=14 November 2020|website=history.aip.org|archive-date=6 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806015214/https://history.aip.org/history/exhibits/curie/stud1.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1900, he was promoted to Professor in the Faculty of Sciences, and in 1904 became Titular Professor.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pierre Curie – Biographical|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/pierre-curie/biographical/|access-date=9 October 2020|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US|archive-date=4 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704124047/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/pierre-curie-bio.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Research ==
=== Piezoelectricity ===
In 1880, Pierre and his older brother, [[Jacques Curie|Jacques]], demonstrated that an [[electric potential]] was generated when crystals were compressed, i.e. [[piezoelectricity]].<ref name="Brothers">{{cite journal
    | title=        This Month in Physics History: March 1880: The Curie Brothers Discover Piezoelectricity
    | journal=      ACS News
    | date=         March 2014
    | url=          https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201403/physicshistory.cfm
    | access-date=  8 July 2016
    | archive-date= 11 February 2021
    | archive-url=  https://web.archive.org/web/20210211002637/https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201403/physicshistory.cfm
    | url-status=   live
    }}</ref> To aid this work, they invented the piezoelectric quartz [[electrometer]].<ref name="Molinié">{{cite journal |last1=Molinié |first1=Philippe |last2=Boudia |first2=Soraya |author-link2=Soraya Boudia |date=May 2009 |title=Mastering picocoulombs in the 1890s: The Curies' quartz–electrometer instrumentation, and how it shaped early radioactivity history |journal=[[Journal of Electrostatics]] |volume=67 |issue=2–3 |pages=524–530 |doi=10.1016/j.elstat.2009.01.031}}</ref> In 1881, they demonstrated the reverse effect; that crystals could be made to deform when subject to an [[electric field]].<ref
name="Brothers" /> Almost all [[Digital electronics|digital]] [[electronic circuit]]s now rely on this in the form of [[crystal oscillator]]s.<ref>{{cite journal
 |author       = Manbachi, A. and Cobbold R.S.C.
 |title        = Development and Application of Piezoelectric Materials for Ultrasound Generation and Detection
 |journal      = Ultrasound
 |volume       = 19
 |issue        = 4
 |pages        = 187–196
 |date         = November 2011
 |doi          = 10.1258/ult.2011.011027
 |s2cid        = 56655834
 |url          = http://ult.rsmjournals.com/content/19/4/187.full
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120722013951/http://ult.rsmjournals.com/content/19/4/187.full
 |archive-date = 22 July 2012
|accessdate   = 21 November 2011
|url-access= subscription
 }}</ref> In subsequent work on magnetism, he defined the Curie scale.<ref>{{cite journal
    | last1=    Kürti
    | first1=   N.
    | last2=    Simon
    | first2=   F.
    | title=     LXXIII. Remarks on the "Curie" scale of temperature
    | journal=The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science
    | date=     1938
    | volume=26
    | issue=    178
    | pages=   849–854
    | doi=       10.1080/14786443808562176
}}</ref> This work also involved delicate equipment – balances, electrometers, etc.<ref>Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901–1921, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1967.[https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/pierre-curie/biographical/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704124047/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/pierre-curie-bio.html|date=4 July 2018}}  <!--  “This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source [in the form I’ve copied here].”  --></ref>

=== Magnetism ===
{{Main|Curie's law}}
[[File:Curie1895These.jpg|thumb|left|''Propriétés magnétiques des corps à diverses temperatures'' <br />(Curie's dissertation, 1895)]]

Before his famous doctoral studies on magnetism, Curie designed and perfected an extremely sensitive [[torsion balance]] for measuring magnetic coefficients. Variations on this equipment were commonly used by future workers in that area. He studied [[ferromagnetism]], [[paramagnetism]], and [[diamagnetism]] for his doctoral thesis, and discovered the effect of temperature on paramagnetism which is now known as [[Curie's law]]. The material constant in Curie's law is known as the [[Curie constant]]. He also discovered that ferromagnetic substances exhibited a [[critical temperature]] transition, above which the substances lost their ferromagnetic behavior. This is now known as the [[Curie temperature]]. The Curie temperature is used to study [[plate tectonics]], treat [[hypothermia]], measure [[caffeine]], and to understand extraterrestrial [[magnetic field]]s.<ref name="auto">{{cite book
    | last1=Redniss
    | first1=Lauren
    | title=Radioactive
    | date=2011
    | publisher=HarperCollins
    | location=New York, New York
    | page=30
}}</ref> The [[Curie (unit)|curie]] is a unit of measurement (3.7&nbsp;×&nbsp;10<sup>10</sup> decays per second or 37 [[becquerel|gigabecquerels]]) used to describe the intensity of a sample of radioactive material and was named after Marie and Pierre Curie by the Radiology Congress in 1910.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Technology|first=Missouri University of Science and|title=- Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science|url=https://nuclear.mst.edu/department/radiation/|access-date=11 December 2020|website=Missouri S&T|language=en-US|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211002653/https://nuclear.mst.edu/department/radiation/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7fUrAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA5-PA93 |page=93 |title=Semiannual Report of the Atomic Energy Commission, Volume 9 |author=[[United States Atomic Energy Commission]] |year=1951}}</ref>

=== Curie's principle ===
{{Main|Curie's principle}}
Curie formulated what is now known as the [[Curie Dissymmetry Principle]]: a physical effect cannot have a dissymmetry absent from its efficient [[causality (physics)|cause]].<ref name="Castellani">{{cite journal|last1=Castellani|first1=Elena|last2=Ismael|first2=Jenann|title=Which Curie's Principle?|journal=Philosophy of Science|volume=83|issue=5|pages=1002–1013|date=16 June 2016|doi=10.1086/687933|url=http://www.jenanni.com/papers/WhichCurie'sPrinciple.pdf|access-date=8 July 2016|hdl=10150/625244|s2cid=55994850|archive-date=30 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200830230429/https://www.jenanni.com/papers/WhichCurie'sPrinciple.pdf|url-status=live|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Berova">{{cite book|last1=Berova|first1=Nina|author-link1=Nina Berova|title=Circular dichroism : principles and applications|date=2000|publisher=Wiley-VCH|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-471-33003-5|pages=43–44|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oaxYis4mtecC&pg=PA43|access-date=8 July 2016}}</ref> For example, a random mixture of sand in zero gravity has no [[dissymmetry]] (it is [[isotropic]]). Introduce a [[gravitational field]], and there is a dissymmetry because of the direction of the field. Then the sand grains can 'self-sort' with the density increasing with depth. But this new arrangement, with the directional arrangement of sand grains, actually reflects the dissymmetry of the gravitational field that causes the separation.

=== Radioactivity ===
[[File:Pierre and Marie Curie.jpg|thumb|Pierre and [[Marie Curie]] in their laboratory]]

Curie worked with [[Marie Curie|his wife]] in isolating [[polonium]] and [[radium]]. They were the first to use the term ''[[radioactivity]]'', and were pioneers in its study. Their work, including Marie Curie's celebrated doctoral work, made use of a sensitive piezoelectric electrometer constructed by Pierre and his brother [[Jacques Curie]].<ref name="Nobel prize">{{cite web|title=Marie and Pierre Curie and the Discovery of Polonium and Radium|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/themes/marie-and-pierre-curie-and-the-discovery-of-polonium-and-radium|website=Nobelprize.org|date=2014|access-date=7 June 2020|archive-date=11 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811080718/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/themes/marie-and-pierre-curie-and-the-discovery-of-polonium-and-radium/|url-status=live}}</ref> Curie's 26 December 1898 publication with his wife and M. G. Bémont<ref name="Paper">P. Curie, Mme. P. Curie, and M. G. Bémont,  ''Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences'', Paris, 1898 (26 December), vol. 127, pp. 1215–1217.</ref> for their discovery of radium and polonium was honored by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society presented to the [[ESPCI ParisTech]] (officially the {{Lang|fr|École supérieure de physique et de Chimie industrielles de la Ville de Paris}}) in 2015.<ref name="Award">{{cite web|title=2015 Awardees|url=http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/CCB-2015_Awardees.php|website=American Chemical Society, Division of the History of Chemistry|publisher=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Chemical Sciences|date=2015|access-date=1 July 2016|archive-date=21 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160621153928/http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/CCB-2015_Awardees.php|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Breakthrough">{{cite web|title=Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award|url=http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/Citations/2015-Curie%20&%20Curie%20plaque.pdf|website=American Chemical Society, Division of the History of Chemistry|publisher=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Chemical Sciences|date=2015|access-date=1 July 2016|archive-date=19 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919184204/http://www.scs.illinois.edu/~mainzv/HIST/awards/Citations/2015-Curie%20%26%20Curie%20plaque.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1903, to honor the Curies' work, the [[Royal Society]] invited Pierre to present their research.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Marie Curie – Recognition and Disappointment (1903–1905)|url=https://history.aip.org/history/exhibits/curie/recdis1.htm|access-date=6 November 2020|website=history.aip.org|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211002658/https://history.aip.org/history/exhibits/curie/recdis1.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Marie was not permitted to give the lecture, so [[Lord Kelvin]] sat beside her while Pierre spoke on their research. After this, Kelvin held a luncheon for Pierre.<ref name=":0" /> While in London, Pierre and Marie were awarded the [[Davy Medal]] of the Royal Society.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1903|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/pierre-curie/biographical/|access-date=14 November 2020|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US|archive-date=4 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704124047/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/pierre-curie-bio.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1903, Pierre and Marie Curie, as well as [[Henri Becquerel]], were awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] for their research on radioactivity.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Pierre Curie|url=https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/pierre-curie|access-date=14 November 2020|website=Atomic Heritage Foundation|language=en|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211002629/https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/pierre-curie|url-status=live}}</ref>

Curie and one of his students, Albert Laborde, made the first discovery of [[Nuclear binding energy|nuclear energy]], by identifying the continuous emission of heat from radium particles.<ref name="Abbott">{{cite journal|last1=Abbott|first1=Steve|last2=Jensen|first2=Carsten|last3=Aaserud|first3=Finn|last4=Kragh|first4=Helge|last5=Rudinger|first5=Erik|last6=Stuewer|first6=Roger H.|title=Controversy and Consensus: Nuclear Beta Decay 1911–1934|journal=The Mathematical Gazette|date=July 2000|volume=84|issue=500|pages=382|doi=10.2307/3621743|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9TygBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA129|jstor=3621743|isbn=978-3-0348-8444-0|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Curie also investigated the radiation emissions of radioactive substances, and through the use of magnetic fields was able to show that some of the emissions were positively charged, some were negative and some were neutral. These correspond to [[alpha particle|alpha]], [[beta particle|beta]], and [[gamma radiation]].<ref name="Lagowski">{{cite book|last1=Lagowski|first1=Joseph J.|title=Macmillan encyclopedia of chemistry|date=1997|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA|location=New York|isbn=0-02-897225-2|page=1293|volume=2}}</ref>

=== Spiritualism ===
In the late nineteenth century, Curie was investigating the mysteries of ordinary [[magnetism]] when he became aware of the [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualist]] experiments of other French scientists, such as [[Charles Richet]] and [[Camille Flammarion]]. He initially thought the systematic investigation into the paranormal could help with some unanswered questions about magnetism.<ref name=Hurwic>{{cite book|last1=Hurwic|first1=Anna|title=Pierre Curie, Translated by Lilananda Dasa and Joseph Cudnik|date=1995|publisher=Flammarion|location=Paris|isbn=9782082115629}}</ref>{{rp|65}} He wrote to Marie, then his fiancée:  "I must admit that those spiritual phenomena intensely interest me. I think they are questions that deal with physics."<ref name=Hurwic />{{rp|66}} Pierre Curie's notebooks from this period show he read many books on spiritualism.<ref name=Hurwic />{{rp|68}} He did not attend séances such as those of [[Eusapia Palladino]] in Paris in June 1905<ref name=Hurwic />{{rp|238}} as a mere spectator, and his goal certainly was not to communicate with spirits. He saw the séances as scientific experiments, tried to monitor different parameters, and took detailed notes of every observation.<ref name=Hurwic />{{rp|247}} Curie considered himself an [[atheism|atheist]].<ref>Warren Allen Smith (2000). Who's who in hell: a handbook and international directory for humanists, freethinkers, naturalists, rationalists, and non-theists. Barricade Books. p. 259. {{ISBN|9781569801581}}. Retrieved 4 February 2017. Curie, Pierre (1859–1906) A co-discoverer of radium, Pierre Curie was an atheist.</ref>

== Family ==
{{Main|Curie family}}
Pierre Curie's grandfather, Paul Curie (1799&ndash;1853), a doctor of medicine, was a committed Malthusian humanist and married Augustine Hofer, daughter of Jean Hofer and great-granddaughter of Jean-Henri Dollfus, great industrialists from [[Mulhouse]] in the second half of the 18th century and the first part of the 19th century.
Through this paternal grandmother, Pierre Curie is also a direct descendant of the Basel scientist and mathematician [[Johann Bernoulli|Jean Bernoulli]] (1667&ndash;1748), as is [[Pierre-Gilles de Gennes]], winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Physics.

[[File:Pierre Curie et Marie Sklodowska Curie 1895.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Pierre and [[Marie Skłodowska-Curie]], 1895]]

Curie was introduced to [[Marie Curie|Maria Skłodowska]] by their friend, physicist [[Józef Wierusz-Kowalski]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Redniss|first1=Lauren|title=[[Radioactive (Redniss book)|Radioactive]]|date=2011|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York, New York|page=26}}</ref> Curie took her into his laboratory as his student. His admiration for her grew when he realised that she would not inhibit his research.{{explain|reason=Do researchers typically take people into their lab who they think will interfere with their work?|date=April 2023}} He began to regard Skłodowska as his muse.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Redniss|first1=Lauren|title=Radioactive|date=2011|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New York, New York|page=33}}</ref> She refused his initial proposal, but finally agreed to marry him on 26 July 1895.<ref name="Quinn">{{cite book|last1=Quinn|first1=Susan|title=Marie Curie : a life|date=1996|publisher=Addison-Wesley|location=Reading, Mass.|isbn=978-0-201-88794-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bteAVVwkeUIC&pg=PA106}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Estreicher|first1=Tadeusz|title=Curie, Maria ze Skłodowskich|date=1938|publisher=In Polski słownik biograficzny|page=111|edition=vol. 4|language=pl}}</ref>

{{blockquote|It would be a beautiful thing, a thing I dare not hope if we could spend our life near each other, hypnotized by our dreams: your patriotic dream, our humanitarian dream, and our scientific dream.  [Pierre Curie to Maria Skłodowska]<ref name="Quinn" />{{rp|117}} }}The Curies had a happy, affectionate marriage, and they were known for their devotion to each other.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=acTYGnGdFc8C&q=pierre|title=Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie (Great Discoveries)|last=Goldsmith|first=Barbara|date=16 May 2011|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=978-0-393-07976-0|language=en}}</ref>

Pierre and Marie Curie's daughter, [[Irène Joliot-Curie|Irène]], and their son-in-law, [[Frédéric Joliot-Curie]], were also physicists involved in the study of [[radioactivity]], and each also received Nobel prizes for their work.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1935: Frédéric Joliot, Irène Joliot-Curie | url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1935/press.html | publisher=Nobel Foundation | year=2008 | access-date=4 September 2008}}</ref> The Curies' other daughter, [[Ève Curie|Ève]], wrote a noted biography of her mother.<ref name="Eve">{{cite book|last1=Curie|first1=Eve|title=Madame Curie|date=1937|publisher=William Heinemann|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/madamecurie035051mbp}}</ref> She was the only member of the Curie family to not become a physicist.  Ève married [[Henry Richardson Labouisse Jr.]], who received a Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of [[UNICEF]] in 1965.<ref name="Fox">{{cite news|last1=Fox|first1=Margalit|title=Eve Curie Labouisse, Mother's Biographer, Dies at 102|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/arts/25labouisse.html|access-date=9 July 2016|work=The New York Times|date=25 October 2007|archive-date=8 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108092956/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/arts/25labouisse.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Smith">{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Warren Allen|title=Who's who in hell : handbook and international directory for humanists, freethinkers, rationalists, and non-theists|date=2000|publisher=Barricade Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1-56980-158-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinhellhan00smit/page/259 259]|chapter=Curie, Pierre (1859–1906)|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinhellhan00smit|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinhellhan00smit/page/259}}</ref> Pierre and Marie Curie's granddaughter, [[Hélène Langevin-Joliot]], is a professor of nuclear physics at the [[University of Paris]], and their grandson, [[Pierre Joliot]], who was named after Pierre Curie, is a noted biochemist.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hélène Langevin-Joliot: A Granny, More Than a Physicist|url=http://www.oir.pku.edu.cn/En/html/2014/People_0519/68.html|access-date=9 July 2016|work=Peking University News|date=19 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820231306/http://www.oir.pku.edu.cn/En/html/2014/People_0519/68.html|archive-date=20 August 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Death ==
[[File:Panthéon Pierre et Marie Curie.JPG|thumb|upright|Tombs of [[Marie Curie|Marie]] (above) and Pierre Curie at [[Paris]]' [[Panthéon]]]]

On 19 April 1906, while crossing the busy [[Rue Dauphine]] in the rain at the Quai de Conti, Curie slipped and fell under a heavy horse-drawn cart; one of the wheels ran over his head, fracturing his skull and killing him instantly.<ref name=obit>{{Citation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1906/04/20/archives/prof-curie-killed-in-a-paris-street-the-discoverer-of-radium-run.html |title=Prof. Curie killed in a Paris street |date=20 April 1906 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=25 July 2018 |archive-date=25 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725215446/https://www.nytimes.com/1906/04/20/archives/prof-curie-killed-in-a-paris-street-the-discoverer-of-radium-run.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Both the Curies experienced [[radium]] burns, both accidentally and voluntarily,<ref name="Mould">{{cite journal|last1=Mould|first1=R.F.|title=Pierre Curie, 1859–1906|journal=Current Oncology|date=2007|volume=14|issue=2|pages=74–82|pmc=1891197|pmid=17576470|doi=10.3747/co.2007.110}}</ref> and were exposed to extensive doses of radiation while conducting their research. They experienced [[radiation sickness]] and Marie Curie died from radiation-induced [[aplastic anemia]] in 1934. Even now, all their papers from the 1890s, even her cookbooks, are radioactive. Their laboratory books are kept in special lead boxes and people who want to see them have to wear [[personal protective equipment|protective clothing]].<ref name="TASCH">{{cite journal|last1=Tasch|first1=Barbara|title=These personal effects of 'the mother of modern physics' will be radioactive for another 1500 years|journal=Business Insider|date=31 August 2015|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/marie-curie-radioactive-papers-2015-8|access-date=9 July 2016|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211002731/https://www.businessinsider.com.au/marie-curie-radioactive-papers-2015-8|url-status=live}}</ref> Most of these items can be found at the {{Lang|fr|[[Bibliothèque nationale de France]]}}.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Concasty|first1=Marie-Louise |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k58393240|title=Pierre et Marie Curie : [exposition], Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, [octobre-décembre] 1967 / [catalogue réd. par Marie-Louise Concasty] ; [préf. par Étienne Dennery]|last2=texte|first2=Bibliothèque nationale (France) Auteur du|date=1967|language=EN|access-date=6 November 2020|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211002648/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k58393240|url-status=live}}</ref> Had Pierre Curie not died in an accident, he would most likely have eventually died of the effects of radiation, as did his wife; their daughter, [[Irène Joliot-Curie|Irène]]; and her husband, [[Frédéric Joliot-Curie|Frédéric Joliot]].<ref name="Redniss">{{cite book|last1=Redniss|first1=Lauren|title=Radioactive : Marie And Pierre Curie : a tale of love and fallout|date=2010|publisher=HarperEntertainment|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-135132-7|edition=1st}}</ref><ref name="Bartusiak">{{cite news|last1=Bartusiak|first1=Marcia|title="Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie – A Tale of Love and Fallout" by Lauren Redniss|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/radioactive-marie-and-pierre-curie--a-tale-of-love-and-fallout-by-lauren-redniss/2011/11/02/gIQANSMBDN_story.html|access-date=9 July 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=11 November 2011|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211002732/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/radioactive-marie-and-pierre-curie--a-tale-of-love-and-fallout-by-lauren-redniss/2011/11/02/gIQANSMBDN_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In April 1995, Pierre and Marie Curie were moved from their original resting place, a family cemetery, and enshrined in the [[crypt]] of the [[Panthéon, Paris|Panthéon in Paris]].

== Awards ==
{| class="wikitable"
! Country
! Year
! Institute
! Award
! Citation
! {{Reference column heading}}
|-
| {{Flagdeco|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United kingdom]]
| 1903
| [[Royal Society]]
| [[Davy Medal]]
| "For their researches on radium" (with [[Marie Curie]])
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Davy Medal|url=https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/davy-medal/|url-status=live|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728050634/http://royalsociety.org/awards/davy-medal/|archive-date=2013-07-28|access-date=2011-08-05}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|Sweden|1844}}
| 1903
| [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
| [[Nobel Prize in Physics]]
| "In recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel" (with [[Marie Curie]])
| <ref name=Nobel1903/>
|-
| {{Flagdeco|Kingdom of Italy}} [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]]
| 1904
| [[Accademia dei XL]]
| [[Matteucci Medal]]
|
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Medals|url=https://www.accademiaxl.it/en/activities/medals/|publisher=[[Accademia dei XL]]|access-date=2025-11-04}}</ref>
|-
| {{Flag|United States|1908}}
| 1909
| [[Franklin Institute]]
| [[Elliott Cresson Medal]]
| "For the discovery of radium" (with [[Marie Curie]])
| <ref>{{Cite web|title=Pierre Curie|url=https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/pierre-curie|url-status=live|publisher=[[Franklin Institute]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250329193825/https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/pierre-curie|archive-date=2025-03-29|access-date=2025-11-13}}</ref>
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/themes/marie-and-pierre-curie-and-the-discovery-of-polonium-and-radium NobelPrize.org: History of Pierre and Marie]
* [https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/summary/ Pierre Curie's Nobel prize]
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture, 6 June 1905 ''Radioactive Substances, Especially Radium''
* [http://www.aip.org/history/curie/pierre.htm Biography American Institute of Physics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216035509/http://www.aip.org/history/curie/pierre.htm |date=16 February 2015 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060828135517/http://alsos.wlu.edu/qsearch.aspx?browse=people%2FCurie%2C+Pierre Annotated bibliography for Pierre Curie from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues] [https://web.archive.org/web/20010302000827/http://alsos.wlu.edu/ ''Alsos Digital Library closure'']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071020225619/http://www.academie-sciences.fr/membres/in_memoriam/Curie/Curie_publi.htm Curie's publication in French Academy of Sciences papers]

{{Marie & Pierre Curie}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1901–1925}}
{{1903 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{People whose names are used in chemical element names}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curie, Pierre}}
[[Category:1859 births]]
[[Category:1906 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century French chemists]]
[[Category:20th-century French chemists]]
[[Category:19th-century French physicists]]
[[Category:20th-century French physicists]]
[[Category:19th-century atheists]]
[[Category:20th-century atheists]]
[[Category:French atheists]]
[[Category:French nuclear physicists]]
[[Category:Curie family|Pierre]]
[[Category:Discoverers of chemical elements]]
[[Category:French Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physics]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Paris]]
[[Category:Legion of Honour refusals]]
[[Category:Burials at the Panthéon, Paris]]
[[Category:Pedestrian road incident deaths]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in France]]
[[Category:Scientists from Paris]]
[[Category:Pierre Curie| ]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Matteucci Medal]]