The Pennine Mountains of Northern England

Typical Pennine scenery in the Forest of Bowland

The Pennines /ˈpɛnaɪnz/ are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.

Often described as the "backbone of England",^[1][2][3] they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of Greater Manchester, through the Yorkshire Dales past the Cumbrian Fells to the Cheviot Hills on the Anglo-Scottish border. North of the Aire Gap, the Pennines give out a western spur into Lancashire, the Bowland Fells, and south of the gap is a similar spur, comprising the Rossendale Fells and West Pennine Moors.^[4]

Although the above is a common definition, the Cheviot Hills are not, strictly speaking, part of the Pennines, being separated by the Tyne Gap and the Whin Sill, along which run the A69 and Hadrian's Wall, but because the Pennine Way crosses them they are often treated as such. Conversely, although the southern end of the Pennines is commonly said to be somewhere in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, often Edale (the start of the Pennine Way), they extend south into Staffordshire and the southern parts of Cheshire and Derbyshire. The true southern end of the Pennines is in the Stoke-on-Trent area, about 40 miles (64 km) south of Edale.

The Pennines are an important water catchment area with numerous reservoirs in the head streams of the major river valleys. The region is widely considered to be one of the most scenic areas of the United Kingdom.^[5] The North Pennines and Nidderdale have been declared Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), as have Bowland and Pendle Hill. Portions of the Pennines are incorporated into the Peak District National Park, the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Northumberland National Park.^[6] Britain's first long distance footpath, the Pennine Way, runs along most of the Pennine chain and is 429 kilometres (268 mi) long.^[7]

Etymology[link]

The first use of the name "Pennines" to describe the mountain range is in the spurious De Situ Britanniae, first published in 1757:^[8]

This province is divided into two equal parts by a chain of mountains called the Pennine Alps, which rising on the confines of the Iceni and Carnabii, near the River Trivona (River Trent), extend towards the north in a continued series of fifty miles.

Stanage Edge

This book purported to contain the account of a Roman general preserved in the manuscript of a 14th-century English monk, Richard of Cirencester, and was considered the premier source of information on Roman Britain for more than a century after it was made available in 1749. It was in fact a forgery created by Charles Bertram, an Englishman then living in Copenhagen. In 1853, Arthur Hussey listed several names in De Situ Britanniae that he could not trace to an earlier source, including the "Pennine Alps".^[9] However, by that time, particularly in the early 19th century, the name "Pennine Chain" or "Pennines" had become widely accepted.

In his 2004 book Names and History: People, Places and Things, George Redmonds provided a modern assessment.^[10] He comments at length on the strange omission of the etymology of the Pennines in the serious literature regarding that area of England, including publications on place-name origins of Derbyshire and Lancashire by respected authors. He finally learns that the origin of the name is from De Situ Britanniae and that "nor do we know any name for the whole range before the 18th century." There follows a discussion of the forgery and the fact that a number of its inventions had found their way into the Ordnance Survey maps; and that the true origin of the name was known by serious authors, most of whom simply chose not to speak of it. He also notes that the mountains had been called by various names in the past, and that there were allusional references to the mountains as "our Apennines" as early as the 1630s (and perhaps before that), so likely Bertram simply invented a name that was easy for people to accept as fact.

Redmonds also suggests that Bertram may have got the idea for the name from the Elizabethan commentator William Camden, who wrote:

The north part...riseth up and swelleth somewhat mountainous, with moores and hills, which beginning here runs as an Apenine does in Italie, through the middest of England...even as far as Scotland, although oftentimes they change their name.^[10]

The name 'Pennines' may have become readily accepted if it was already closely related to an earlier name (or names) for the hills of a Cumbric origin, like the hill Pen-y-ghent in northern Yorkshire. A very similar language to Cumbric was once spoken in Northern Italy. The etymology for the Apennines of Italy that is most frequently repeated (because of its semantic appropriateness) is that it derives from the Celtic Penn, 'mountain, summit':^[11] which could have been assigned during the Celtic domination of north Italy in the 4th century BC or before. The name originally applied to the north Apennines. However, historical linguists have never found a derivation with which they are universally comfortable. Wilhelm Deecke said: "...is doubtful but some derive it from the Ligurian-Celtish Pen or Ben, which means mountain peak." ^[12] Ranko Matasović reconstructs a Proto-Celtic root *bando- 'peak, top',^[13][14] which he considers of non-Indo-European origin.

Toponymy[link]

The names of towns and geographical features retain some evidence of the Celts who were here before, and after, the Romans: for example the town Penrith, the fell Pen-y-ghent, the River Eden, or the name Cumbria. More commonly the local names result from the later Anglo-Saxon and Norse settlements. And in both Yorkshire and Cumbria many Norse words not commonly used in standard English are part of everyday speech: for example, gill (narrow steep valley), beck (brook or stream), fell (hill) and dale (valley).^[15]

Geology and landscape[link]

Topographical map of the United Kingdom, Pennines centred

The Pennines have been carved from a series of geological structures whose overall form is that of a broad anticline whose axis extends in a north–south direction. The North Pennines are coincident with the Alston Block, whilst the Yorkshire Dales are coincident with the Askrigg Block. In the south the Peak District is essentially a flat-topped dome. Each of these structures consists of Carboniferous Limestone overlain with Millstone Grit. The limestone is exposed at the surface to the north of the range, in the North Pennines AONB, and to the south in the Derbyshire Peak District. In the Yorkshire Dales this limestone exposure has led to the formation of large underground cave systems and watercourses, known as "gills" and "pots" in the Yorkshire dialect. These caves, or "potholes", are more prevalent on the eastern side and are amongst the largest in England; notable examples are the chasms of Gaping Gill, which is over 350 ft (107 m) deep, and Rowten Pot, which is 365 ft (111 m) deep. Erosion of the limestone has also led to some unusual geological formations in the region, such as the limestone pavements of the Yorkshire Pennines. Between the northern and southern areas of exposed limestone (between Skipton and the Peak District) lies a narrow belt of exposed gritstone. Here, the shales and sandstones of the Millstone Grit form high hills occupied by a moorland of bracken, peat, heather and coarse grasses,^[16] with the higher ground being uncultivable and barely fit for pastures.

Typical limestone scenery: Thor's Cave, Staffordshire, from the Manifold Way. Limestone is common in the White Peak and Yorkshire Dales, giving the two areas a distinction from other areas of the Pennines.

The landscape of the Pennines is characterised by upland areas of high moorland indented by more fertile river valleys.

Climate[link]

Map of British Isles climatic zones. The Pennines are classified as zones 7 and 8, with 8 being milder areas and 7 being colder areas.

The climate of the Pennines is generally temperate like the rest of England, but they receive more precipitation, stronger winds and colder weather than the surrounding areas. Some areas of the Pennines could perhaps be described as temperate verging on subarctic in climate and indeed a small area of the Pennines is classified as subarctic, in certain parts of Teesdale. Snow falls in greater quantities in the Pennines than in surrounding lowland areas due to the elevation and distance from the coast; unlike lowland areas of England, the Pennines can actually have quite severe winters.

Precipitation is heavy, with North West England being amongst the wettest regions of England and much of that rain falling in the Pennines. The Pennines form two main watersheds, one leading to the Irish Sea and the other to the North Sea. The eastern side of the Pennines is drier than the western side and the Pennines "shield" North East England from much rainfall that would otherwise fall there. The precipitation in the Pennines is important for the biodiversity of the area and the human populations. Many towns and cities are along rivers that flow from the Pennines and in North West England the lack of natural aquifers is compensated for with many Pennine-based reservoirs. The wet climate has carved out gorges, caves and limestone landscapes in areas of the Pennines such as the Yorkshire Dales and Peak District and has had a mixed effect on the Pennines as a whole. In some areas the precipitation has contributed to poor soils, resulting in part in the moorland landscapes that characterize much of the range. In other areas where the soil has not been degraded, it has resulted in lush vegetation.

The Pennines come under climate zones 7 and 8, with 8 being common throughout most of the UK and 7 being the UK's coldest climatic zones. The Pennines, Scottish Highlands, Southern Uplands and Snowdonia are the only areas of the UK to be placed in the 7 climatic zone.

Flora[link]

Flora in the Pennines is adapted to moorland and subarctic landscapes and climates. The flora found there can be found in other areas of moorland in Northern Europe and some species are also found in areas of tundra.

In the Pennine millstone grit areas above an altitude of 275 m (902 ft) the topsoil is so acidic, pH 2 to 4, that it can grow only bracken, heather, sphagnum, and coarse grasses^[16] such as cottongrass, purple moor grass and heath rush.^[18]

As the Ice age glacial sheets retreated c. 11,500 BC trees returned and archaeological palynology can identify their species. The first trees to settle were willow, birch and juniper, followed later by alder and pine. By 6500 BC temperatures were warmer and woodlands covered 90% of the dales with mostly pine, elm, lime and oak. On the limestone soils the oak was slower to colonize and pine and birch predominated. Around 3000 BC a noticeable decline in tree pollen indicates that neolithic farmers were clearing woodland to increase grazing for domestic livestock, and studies at Linton Mires and Eshton Tarn find an increase in grassland species.^[19]

On poorly drained impermeable areas of millstone grit, shale or clays the topsoil gets waterlogged in winter and spring. Here tree suppression combined with the heavier rainfall results in blanket bog up to 2 m (7 ft) thick. The erosion of peat ca 2010 still exposes stumps of ancient trees.^[19]

“In digging it away they frequently find vast fir trees, perfectly sound, and some oaks…”

—Arthur Young, A Six Months' Tour of the North of England (1771)^[20]

Conifers have now been widely replanted as a cheap source of wood, especially around areas such as Kielder Forest.

Fauna[link]

Shooting of Red Grouse is an economically important activity in the Pennines.

Fauna in the Pennines is similar to the rest of England and Wales, but the area hosts some specialised species. Deer are found throughout the Pennines and many species of animals that are rare elsewhere in England can be found here. Arctic Hares, which were common in Britain during the Ice Age and retreated to the cooler, more tundra-like uplands once the climate warmed up, were introduced to the Dark Peak area of the Peak District in the 19th century. Large areas of heather moorland in the Pennines are managed for driven shooting of wild Red Grouse.

Drainage[link]

Kinder Downfall, a waterfall on Kinder Scout, Dark Peak

The Pennines constitute the main watershed in Northern England, dividing the eastern and western parts of the country. The rivers Eden, Ribble, Irwell and Mersey all rise in the Pennines and flow westwards towards the Irish Sea. On the other side of the watershed, the rivers Tyne, Tees, Wear, Swale, Ure, Nidd, Calder, Wharfe, Aire, Don and Trent also rise in the region but flow eastwards to the North Sea.

Reservoirs[link]

Kielder Water

Ladybower Reservoir and many other smaller reservoirs

Elevation[link]

Rising less than 3,000', the Pennines are often referred to as fells. The highest is Cross Fell in eastern Cumbria, at 2,930 feet (893 m), while other principal peaks include Mickle Fell 2,585 ft (788 m), Whernside 2,415 ft (736 m), Ingleborough 2,372 ft (723 m), High Seat 2,328 ft (710 m) and Wild Boar Fell 2,324 ft (708 m), both in Mallerstang, Pen-y-ghent 2,274 ft (693 m), and Kinder Scout 2,087 ft (636 m).

Character Areas of the Pennines[link]

The Joint Character Areas of the Pennines

England has been divided into areas of similar landscape character. These were originally called Joint Character Areas (JCAs), but are now called National Character Areas (NCAs). The NCAs are a widely recognised national spatial framework, but the boundaries are not precise and many should be considered as broad zones of transition.^[21]

The Pennines have eleven National Character Areas. These are:

1. Border Moors and Forests^[22]
2. Tyne Gap and Hadrian's Wall^[23]
3. North Pennines^[24]
4. Howgill Fells^[25]
5. Yorkshire Dales^[26]
6. Bowland Fells^[27] alongside the Bowland Fringe and Pendle Hill^[28]
7. Southern Pennines,^[29] including the West Pennine Moors
8. Dark Peak^[30]
9. White Peak^[31]
10. South West Peak^[32]

Croasdale Fell, Forest of Bowland.

The Bowland area of the Pennines is dominated by a central upland landform of deeply incised gritstone fells covered with vast tracts of heather-covered peat moorland and blanket bog. The lower slopes of the fells are dotted with stone-built farms and small villages and are criss-crossed by drystone walls enclosing reclaimed moorland pasture. Steep-sided wooded valleys link the upland and lowland landscapes. To the northeast of the area are extensive coniferous plantations and the eastern limestone areas support high-quality species-rich meadows.^[33]

Dales[link]

• Airedale
• Calderdale
• Dovedale
• Nidderdale
• Ribblesdale
• Swaledale
• Teesdale
• Weardale
• Wensleydale
• Wharfedale

Demography[link]

Pennines in Derbyshire

The Pennine region is relatively sparsely populated by English standards. Large population centres in the Pennines include Leeds and Bradford and a few towns bordering the Peak District, but the rest of the area is only thinly populated.

Economy[link]

The main economic activities include sheep farming, quarrying, finance and tourism.

Main settlements[link]

The summit of Cross Fell with Great Dun Fell in the background.

Transport[link]

By using these gaps a Pennine traverser does not have to climb above 228 m (748 ft) in the Tyne Gap, 409 m (1,342 ft) via the Stainmore Gap and only 179 m (587 ft) using the Aire Gap.^[34]

The three main gaps in the Pennines have always afforded communications links between the areas to the east and west. These gaps are the Tyne Gap between Carlisle and Newcastle upon Tyne along which the A69 road and the Tyne Valley railway run, the Stainmore Gap between the Eden Valley in Cumbria and Teesdale in County Durham, and the Aire Gap linking Lancashire and Yorkshire via the valleys of the rivers Aire and Ribble. The Pennines are also traversed by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the M62 motorway. In many places, the Pennines remain a formidable barrier to be crossed by tunnel or roads that may be blocked by snow for several days in winter.

Rail services are operated along the Huddersfield line between Huddersfield and Victoria and Piccadilly stations in Manchester. The name of the train-operating company First TransPennine Express comes from such journeys - its trains connect the North West with the North East.

There are three trans-Pennine canals built during the Industrial Revolution which, as the name suggests, cross the range in various locations:

• The Huddersfield Narrow Canal connects the town of Huddersfield in the east with the city of Manchester in the west. When it reaches the Pennines at Marsden, it runs underneath the hills through a long tunnel to Diggle on the other side. Once a month during the summer season, it is possible to pass through the tunnel on a public narrowboat.
• The Rochdale Canal crosses the Pennines via Rochdale, connecting the market town of Sowerby Bridge with Manchester.
• The Leeds & Liverpool Canal, the longest and most northerly of the three, crosses the Pennines via Skipton connecting Leeds in the east with Liverpool in the west.

National Parks and AONBs[link]

The National Parks of England and Wales; the Pennines play host to three, those marked as 9, 7 and 1

Considerable areas of the Pennine landscapes are protected as UK national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): Northumberland National Park (9), Yorkshire Dales National Park (7) and the Peak District National Park (1) and the North Pennines AONB. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are afforded much the same protection as National Parks.

England, Wales and Northern Ireland AONBs. The Pennines host two, with a large one protecting the North Pennines.

The North Pennines AONB just north of the Yorkshire Dales rivals the National Park in size and includes some of the Pennines' highest peaks and some of its most isolated and sparsely populated areas.

History[link]

A prehistoric settlement on Harkerside Moor in Swaledale.

Early inhabitants[link]

The area contains many examples of Bronze Age settlements, and evidence of Neolithic settlement (including many stone circles or henges, such as Long Meg and Her Daughters).^[35]

Celtic and Roman times[link]

The Pennines would have come under the tribal federation of the Brigantes. This tribal federation was made up of mainly small tribes who inhabited the Pennines and cooperated on defence and external affairs. The Brigantes later evolved into an early form of kingdom.

During Roman times, the Brigantes came under Roman domination. The Romans exploited the Pennines for the natural resources and wild animals found there.

Early Middle Ages[link]

The Pennines were a major obstacle for Anglo-Saxon expansion west, although it appears they travelled through the Pennine valleys. During the Dark Ages the Pennines came under a number of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. It is believed that the north of the area first came under the kingdom of Rheged. There were later three kingdoms that were solely based in the Pennines, however.^{[citation needed]} These were: The Kingdom of the Pennines and later the Kingdom of the Pennines broke up^{[citation needed]} and was succeeded by Dunoting/Kingdom of the North Pennines and The Peak/Kingdom of the South Pennines.

During Norse times the Pennines were settled by Viking Danes in the east and Norwegian Vikings in the west. The Vikings heavily influenced place-names, culture and genetics. When England was unified the Pennines were incorporated into it. The Pennines with their mixture of Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Viking heritage resembled much of the rest of Northern England and the culture developed along with the area's lowland neighbours in North West and North East England. The Pennines did not form a distinct political entity of their own, but instead were subdivided between neighbouring counties in North East and North West England, with a major part being in the ceremonial county of Yorkshire.

Other history[link]

The Pennines were the major route for the Jacobite attacks on England. They also became highly exploited in the Victorian era.

Language[link]

The language used in pre-Roman and Roman times was British. During the Early Middle Ages, the Cumbric language developed. However, little evidence of Cumbric remains, so it is difficult to ascertain whether or not it was a language in its own right or simply a dialect of Old Welsh. It is also uncertain as to the extent of the region in which Cumbric was spoken.

During Anglo-Saxon times (the area was settled by Anglian peoples of Mercia and Northumbria, rather than the Saxon people of Southern England). Celtic speech remained in most areas of the Pennines longer than it did in the surrounding areas of England.^{[citation needed]} Eventually, the Celtic tongue of the Pennines was replaced by early English as Anglo-Saxons and Vikings settled the area and assimilated the Celts.

In Norse times, Viking settlers brought their languages of Old Norse, Old Danish (mainly in the Yorkshire Dales and parts of the Peak District) and Old Norwegian (mainly in the western Pennines).^{[citation needed]} With the eventual consolidation of England by the Saxon kingdom of Wessex, the pure Norse speech died out in England, though it survived in the Pennines longer than in most areas^{[citation needed]}. However, the fusion of Norse and Old English was an important part of the formation of Middle (and hence, Modern) English, and many individual words of Norse descent remain in use in local dialects, such as that of Yorkshire, and in local place names.

Norman French had little effect on the language of the Pennines though.^{[citation needed]} All of the above languages have had an influence, either large or small, on the modern placenames of the Pennines. The modern language of the Pennines is English.

Folklore and customs[link]

Ice climbers on the Kinder Downfall, Dark Peak

The folklore and customs are mostly based on Celtic, Anglo-Saxon and Viking customs and folklore.^{[citation needed]} Many customs and stories have their origin in Christianised pagan traditions.^{[citation needed]} In the Peak District a notable custom is well dressing, which has its origin in pagan traditions that became Christianized.

See also[link]

• Geography of England
• Geology of the United Kingdom
• Geology of Yorkshire
• South Pennines
• White Peak
• Yorkshire Three Peaks

References[link]

• Arthur Raistrick, 'The Pennine Dales', Eyre Methuen Ltd 1968, ISBN 0-413-26760-1

External links[link]

• The Pennine Edge Forest Network
• Pennine Prospects

Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Marie Curie, ca. 1920
Born	(1867-11-07)7 November 1867 Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland, then part of Russian Empire[1]
Died	4 July 1934(1934-07-04) (aged 66) Passy, Haute-Savoie, France
Citizenship	Russian, later French
Nationality	Polish
Fields	Physics, chemistry
Institutions	University of Paris
Alma mater	University of Paris ESPCI
Doctoral advisor	Henri Becquerel
Doctoral students	André-Louis Debierne Óscar Moreno Marguerite Catherine Perey
Known for	Radioactivity, polonium, radium
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Physics (1903) Davy Medal (1903) Matteucci Medal (1904) Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1911)
Spouse	Pierre Curie (1859–1906)
Signature
Notes She is the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences. She was the wife of Pierre Curie, and the mother of Irène Joliot-Curie and Ève Curie.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a French-Polish physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes^[2]—in physics and chemistry. She was the first female professor at the University of Paris, and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon in Paris.^[3]

She was born Maria Salomea Skłodowska ([ˈmarja salɔˈmɛa skwɔˈdɔfska]) in Warsaw, in what was then the Kingdom of Poland. She studied at Warsaw's clandestine Floating University and began her practical scientific training in Warsaw. In 1891, aged 24, she followed her older sister Bronisława to study in Paris, where she earned her higher degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work. She shared her 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband Pierre Curie and with the physicist Henri Becquerel. Her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie and son-in-law, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, would similarly share a Nobel Prize. She was the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Skłodowska-Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to date to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences.

Her achievements included a theory of radioactivity (a term that she coined^[4]), techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two elements, polonium and radium. ^[5] Under her direction, the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms, using radioactive isotopes. She founded the Curie Institutes in Paris and Warsaw, which remain major centres of medical research today.

While an actively loyal French citizen, Skłodowska-Curie (she used both surnames) never lost her sense of Polish identity. She taught her daughters the Polish language and took them on visits to Poland. She named the first chemical element that she discovered – polonium, which she first isolated in 1898 – after her native country.^[6] During World War I she became a member of the Committee for a Free Poland (Komitet Wolnej Polski).^[7] In 1932, she founded a Radium Institute (now the Maria Skłodowska–Curie Institute of Oncology) in her home town, Warsaw, headed by her physician-sister Bronisława. Curie died in 1934 of aplastic anemia brought on by her years of exposure to radiation.^[8]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Władysław Skłodowski with daughters (from left) Maria, Bronisława, Helena, 1890

Birthplace on ulica Freta in Warsaw's "New Town" – now home to the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum

Maria Skłodowska was born in Warsaw, in the Russian partition of Poland, on 7 November 1867, the fifth and youngest child of well-known teachers Bronisława and Władysław Skłodowski. Maria's older siblings were Zofia (born 1862), Józef (1863), Bronisława (1865) and Helena (1866).

Maria's paternal grandfather Józef Skłodowski had been a respected teacher in Lublin, where he taught the young Bolesław Prus.^[9] Her father Władysław Skłodowski taught mathematics and physics, subjects that Maria was to pursue, and was also director of two Warsaw gymnasia for boys, in addition to lodging boys in the family home. Maria's mother Bronisława operated a prestigious Warsaw boarding school for girls; she suffered from tuberculosis and died when Maria was twelve.

Maria's father was an atheist; her mother—a devout Catholic.^[10] Two years earlier Maria's oldest sibling, Zofia, had died of typhus. The deaths of her mother and sister, according to Robert William Reid, caused Maria to give up Catholicism and become agnostic.^[11]

When she was ten years old, Maria began attending the boarding school that her mother had operated while she was well; next Maria attended a gymnasium for girls, from which she graduated on 12 June 1883. She spent the following year in the countryside with relatives of her father's, and the next with her father in Warsaw, where she did some tutoring.

On both the paternal and maternal sides, the family had lost their property and fortunes through patriotic involvements in Polish national uprisings aiming at the restoration of Poland's independence (most recent of which was the January Uprising). This condemned each subsequent generation, including that of Maria, her elder sisters and her brother, to a difficult struggle to get ahead in life.^[12]

At a Warsaw lab here, in 1890–91, Skłodowska did her first scientific work.

Maria made an agreement with her sister, Bronisława, that she would give her financial assistance during Bronisława's medical studies in Paris, in exchange for similar assistance two years later.^[13] In connection with this, Maria took a position as governess: first with a lawyer's family in Kraków; then for two years in Ciechanów with a landed family, the Żorawskis, who were relatives of her father. While working for the latter family, she fell in love with their son, Kazimierz Żorawski, which was reciprocated by this future eminent mathematician. His parents, however, rejected the idea of his marrying the penniless relative, and Kazimierz was unable to oppose them. Maria lost her position as governess.^[14] She found another with the Fuchs family in Sopot, on the Baltic Sea coast, where she spent the next year, all the while financially assisting her sister.

At the beginning of 1890, Bronisława, a few months after she married Kazimierz Dłuski, invited Maria to join them in Paris. Maria declined because she could not afford the university tuition and was still counting on marrying Kazimierz Żorawski. She returned home to her father in Warsaw, where she remained till the fall of 1891. She tutored, studied at the clandestine Floating University,^[15] and began her practical scientific training (1890–91) in a laboratory at the Museum of Industry and Agriculture at Krakowskie Przedmieście 66, near Warsaw's Old Town.^[16] The laboratory was run by her cousin Józef Boguski, who had been assistant in Saint Petersburg to the great Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev.^[17]

In October 1891, at her sister's insistence and after receiving a letter from Żorawski, in which he definitively broke his relationship with her, she decided to go to France after all.^[10]

Maria's loss of the relationship with Żorawski was tragic for both. He soon earned a doctorate and pursued an academic career as a mathematician, becoming a professor and rector of Kraków University and president of the Warsaw Society of Learning. Still, as an old man and a mathematics professor at the Warsaw Polytechnic, he would sit contemplatively before the statue of Maria Skłodowska which had been erected in 1935 before the Radium Institute that she had founded in 1932.^[18]

In Paris, Maria briefly found shelter with her sister and brother-in-law before renting a primitive garret^[19] and proceeding with her studies of physics, chemistry, and mathematics at the Sorbonne (the University of Paris).

Pierre Curie[link]

Pierre Curie

Skłodowska studied during the day and tutored evenings, barely earning her keep. In 1893, she was awarded a degree in physics and began work in an industrial laboratory at Lippman's. Meanwhile she continued studying at the Sorbonne, and in 1894, earned a degree in mathematics.

That same year, Pierre Curie entered her life. He was an instructor at the School of Physics and Chemistry, the École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI). Skłodowska had begun her scientific career in Paris with an investigation of the magnetic properties of various steels; it was their mutual interest in magnetism that drew Skłodowska and Curie together.^[20]

Her departure for the summer to Warsaw only enhanced their mutual feelings for each other. She still was laboring under the illusion that she would be able to return to Poland and work in her chosen field of study. When she was denied a place at Kraków University merely because she was a woman, she returned to Paris.^[21] Almost a year later, in July 1895, she and Pierre Curie married, and thereafter the two physicists hardly ever left their laboratory. They shared two hobbies, long bicycle trips and journeys abroad, which brought them even closer. Maria had found a new love, a partner, and a scientific collaborator upon whom she could depend.^[21]

New elements[link]

In 1896 Henri Becquerel discovered that uranium salts emitted rays that resembled X-rays in their penetrating power. He demonstrated that this radiation, unlike phosphorescence, did not depend on an external source of energy, but seemed to arise spontaneously from uranium itself. Becquerel had, in fact, discovered radioactivity.

Curie decided to look into uranium rays as a possible field of research for a thesis. She used a clever technique to investigate samples. Fifteen years earlier, her husband and his brother had invented the electrometer, a sensitive device for measuring electrical charge. Using the Curie electrometer, she discovered that uranium rays caused the air around a sample to conduct electricity.^[22] Using this technique, her first result was the finding that the activity of the uranium compounds depended only on the quantity of uranium present. She had shown that the radiation was not the outcome of some interaction of molecules, but must come from the atom itself. In scientific terms, this was the most important single piece of work that she conducted.^[23]

Curie's systematic studies had included two uranium minerals, pitchblende and torbernite (also known as chalcolite). Her electrometer showed that pitchblende was four times as active as uranium itself, and chalcolite twice as active. She concluded that, if her earlier results relating the quantity of uranium to its activity were correct, then these two minerals must contain small quantities of some other substance that was far more active than uranium itself.^[24]

The idea [writes Reid] was her own; no one helped her formulate it, and although she took it to her husband for his opinion she clearly established her ownership of it. She later recorded the fact twice in her biography of her husband to ensure there was no chance whatever of any ambiguity. It [is] likely that already at this early stage of her career [she] realized that... many scientists would find it difficult to believe that a woman could be capable of the original work in which she was involved.^[25]

In her systematic search for other substances beside uranium salts that emitted radiation, Curie had found that the element thorium likewise, was radioactive.

Pierre and Marie Curie in the laboratory

Pierre and Marie Curie in the laboratory

She was acutely aware of the importance of promptly publishing her discoveries and thus establishing her priority. Had not Becquerel, two years earlier, presented his discovery to the Académie des Sciences the day after he made it, credit for the discovery of radioactivity, and even a Nobel Prize, would have gone to Silvanus Thompson instead. Curie chose the same rapid means of publication. Her paper, giving a brief and simple account of her work, was presented for her to the Académie on 12 April 1898 by her former professor, Gabriel Lippmann.^[26]

Even so, just as Thompson had been beaten by Becquerel, so Curie was beaten in the race to tell of her discovery that thorium gives off rays in the same way as uranium. Two months earlier, Gerhard Schmidt had published his own finding in Berlin.^[27]

At that time, however, no one else in the world of physics had noticed what Curie recorded in a sentence of her paper, describing how much greater were the activities of pitchblende and chalcolite than uranium itself: "The fact is very remarkable, and leads to the belief that these minerals may contain an element which is much more active than uranium." She later would recall how she felt "a passionate desire to verify this hypothesis as rapidly as possible."^[28]

Pierre Curie was sure that what she had discovered was not a spurious effect. He was so intrigued that he decided to drop his work on crystals temporarily and to join her. On 14 April 1898, they optimistically weighed out a 100-gram sample of pitchblende and ground it with a pestle and mortar. They did not realize at the time that what they were searching for was present in such minute quantities that they eventually would have to process tons of the ore.^[28]

As they were unaware of the deleterious effects of radiation exposure attendant on their chronic unprotected work with radioactive substances, Curie and her husband had no idea what price they would pay for the effect of their research upon their health.^[21]

Pierre, Irène, Marie Curie

In July 1898, Curie and her husband published a paper together, announcing the existence of an element which they named "polonium", in honor of her native Poland, which would for another twenty years remain partitioned among three empires. On 26 December 1898, the Curies announced the existence of a second element, which they named "radium" for its intense radioactivity — a word that they coined.

Pitchblende is a complex mineral. The chemical separation of its constituents was an arduous task. The discovery of polonium had been relatively easy; chemically it resembles the element bismuth, and polonium was the only bismuth-like substance in the ore. Radium, however, was more elusive. It is closely related, chemically, to barium, and pitchblende contains both elements. By 1898, the Curies had obtained traces of radium, but appreciable quantities, uncontaminated with barium, still were beyond reach.^[29]

The Curies undertook the arduous task of separating out radium salt by differential crystallization. From a ton of pitchblende, one-tenth of a gram of radium chloride was separated in 1902. By 1910, Curie, working on without her husband, who had been killed accidentally by a horse drawn vehicle^[30] in 1906, had isolated the pure radium metal.^[31]

In an unusual decision, Marie Curie intentionally refrained from patenting the radium-isolation process, so that the scientific community could do research unhindered.^[32]

In 1903, under the supervision of Henri Becquerel,^[33] Marie was awarded her DSc from the University of Paris.

Nobel Prizes[link]

1903

1911, awarded second Nobel Prize

In 1903 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Pierre Curie, Marie Curie and Henri Becquerel the 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."

Curie and her husband were unable to go to Stockholm to receive the prize in person, but they shared its financial proceeds with needy acquaintances, including students.^[21]

On receiving the Nobel Prize, Marie and Pierre Curie suddenly became very famous. The Sorbonne gave Pierre a professorship and permitted him to establish his own laboratory, in which Curie became the director of research.

In 1897 and 1904, respectively, Curie gave birth to their daughters, Irène and Ève Curie. She later hired Polish governesses to teach her daughters her native language, and sent or took them on visits to Poland.^[34]

Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize. Eight years later, in 1911, she received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, "in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element."

1911 Nobel Prize

A month after accepting her 1911 Nobel Prize, she was hospitalized with depression and a kidney ailment.

Curie was the first person to win or share two Nobel Prizes. She is one of only two people who have been awarded a Nobel Prize in two different fields, the other person being Linus Pauling (for chemistry and for peace). Nevertheless, in 1911 the French Academy of Sciences did not elect her to be a member by two votes. Elected instead was Édouard Branly, an inventor who had helped Guglielmo Marconi develop the wireless telegraph.^[35] It would be a doctoral student of Curie, Marguerite Perey, who would become the first woman elected to membership in the Academy – over half a century later, in 1962.

Pierre's death[link]

On 19 April 1906 Pierre was killed in a street accident. Walking across the Rue Dauphine in heavy rain, he was struck by a horse-drawn vehicle and fell under its wheels; his skull was fractured.^[30] While it has been speculated that previously he may have been weakened by prolonged radiation exposure, there are no indications that this contributed to the accident.

Curie was devastated by the death of her husband. She noted that, as of that moment she suddenly had become "an incurably and wretchedly lonely person". On 13 May 1906, the Sorbonne physics department decided to retain the chair that had been created for Pierre Curie and they entrusted it to Marie Curie together with full authority over the laboratory. This allowed her to emerge from Pierre's shadow. She became the first woman to become a professor at the Sorbonne, and in her exhausting work regime she sought a meaning for her life.

At First Solvay Conference (1911), Curie (seated, 2nd from right) confers with Henri Poincaré. Standing, 4th from right, is Rutherford; 2nd from right, Einstein; far right, Paul Langevin

Recognition for her work grew to new heights, and in 1911 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded her a second Nobel Prize, this time for Chemistry. A delegation of celebrated Polish men of learning, headed by world-famous novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz, encouraged her to return to Poland and continue her research in her native country.^[21]

In 1911 it was revealed that in 1910–11 Curie had conducted an affair of about a year's duration with physicist Paul Langevin, a former student of Pierre Curie's.^[36] He was a married man who was estranged from his wife. This resulted in a press scandal that was exploited by her academic opponents. Despite her fame as a scientist working for France, the public's attitude tended toward xenophobia—the same that had led to the Dreyfus affair–which also fueled false speculation that Curie was Jewish. She was five years older than Langevin and was portrayed in the tabloids as a home-wrecker.^[37] Later, Curie's granddaughter, Hélène Joliot, married Langevin's grandson, Michel Langevin.

Curie's second Nobel Prize, in 1911, enabled her to talk the French government into funding the building of a private Radium Institute (Institut du radium, now the Institut Curie), which was built in 1914 and at which research was conducted in chemistry, physics, and medicine. The Institute became a crucible of Nobel Prize winners, producing four more, including her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie and her son-in-law, Frédéric Joliot-Curie.

World War I[link]

Curie in a World War I mobile x-ray vehicle

During World War I, Marie saw a need for field radiological centers near the front lines to assist battlefield surgeons. After a quick study of radiology, anatomy and automotive mechanics she procured x-ray equipment, vehicles, auxiliary generators and developed mobile radiography units, which came to be popularly known as petites Curies ("Little Curies"). She directed the installation of twenty mobile radiological vehicles and another 200 radiological units at field hospitals in the first year of the war. It is estimated that over one million wounded soldiers were treated with her x-ray units.^[11]

Afterwards, Marie produced hollow needles containing 'radium emanation', a colorless, radioactive gas given off by radium, later identified as radon to be used for sterilizing infected tissue. Curie provided the radium, from her own personal one gram supply.

Also, promptly after the war started, she attempted to donate her gold Nobel Prize medals to the war effort but the official refused to accept them. She was also active member in committees of Polish Polonia in France dedicated to Polish cause.^[38]

Post-war years[link]

In 1921 Curie was welcomed triumphantly when she toured the United States to raise funds for research on radium. Mrs. William Brown Meloney, after interviewing Curie, raised money to buy 1 gram of radium and publicized the trip.^[39] President Warren Harding received her at the White House.^[40]

Her second American tour, in 1929, succeeded in equipping the Warsaw Radium Institute, founded in 1925 with her sister Bronisława as director.^[41]

These distractions from her scientific labors and the attendant publicity caused her much discomfort but provided resources needed for her work.

In her later years Curie headed the Curie Pavilion, a radioactivity laboratory created for her by the Pasteur Institute and the University of Paris. It was one of four major radioactivity-research laboratories, the others being the Cavendish Laboratory, with Ernest Rutherford; the Institute for Radium Research, Vienna, with Stefan Meyer; and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, with Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner. ^[42]

In 1933, when Russian physicists George Gamow and his wife — who had together been trying for two years to defect from the Soviet Union — attended the 7th Solvay Conference on physics, in Brussels, Marie Curie and other physicists helped them extend their stay, and Gamow obtained temporary work at the Curie Institute.

Death[link]

1935 statue, facing the Radium Institute, Warsaw

Curie visited Poland for the last time in the spring of 1934.^[21] Only a few months later, on 4 July 1934, Curie died at the Sancellemoz Sanatorium in Passy, in Haute-Savoie, eastern France, from aplastic anemia contracted from her long-term exposure to radiation.^[8] The damaging effects of ionizing radiation were not then known, and much of her work had been carried out in a shed, without the safety measures that would later be developed. She had carried test tubes containing radioactive isotopes in her pocket^{[citation needed]} and stored them in her desk drawer, remarking on the faint light that the substances gave off in the dark.^[43] Marie was also exposed to x-rays from unshielded equipment while serving as a radiologist in field hospitals during the war.

She was interred at the cemetery in Sceaux, alongside her husband Pierre. Sixty years later, in 1995, in honor of their achievements, the remains of both were transferred to the Panthéon, Paris. She became the first – and so far the only – woman to be honored with interment in the Panthéon on her own merits.

Her laboratory is preserved at the Musée Curie.

Because of their levels of radioactivity, her papers from the 1890s are considered too dangerous to handle. Even her cookbook is highly radioactive. They are kept in lead-lined boxes, and those who wish to consult them must wear protective clothing.^[44]

Legacy[link]

Statue, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland

The physical and societal aspects of the work of the Curies contributed substantially to shaping the world of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Cornell University professor L. Pearce Williams observes:

The result of the Curies' work was epoch-making. Radium's radioactivity was so great that it could not be ignored. It seemed to contradict the principle of the conservation of energy and therefore forced a reconsideration of the foundations of physics. On the experimental level the discovery of radium provided men like Ernest Rutherford with sources of radioactivity with which they could probe the structure of the atom. As a result of Rutherford's experiments with alpha radiation, the nuclear atom was first postulated. In medicine, the radioactivity of radium appeared to offer a means by which cancer could be successfully attacked.^[31]

(See physics, conservation of energy, Ernest Rutherford, atom, alpha decay, atomic nucleus.)

If the work of Marie Curie helped overturn established ideas in physics and chemistry, it has had an equally profound effect in the societal sphere. To attain her scientific achievements, she had to overcome barriers that were placed in her way because she was a woman, in both her native and her adoptive country. This aspect of her life and career is highlighted in Françoise Giroud's Marie Curie: A Life, which emphasizes Curie's role as a feminist precursor. She was ahead of her time, emancipated, independent, and in addition uncorrupted. Albert Einstein is reported to have remarked that she was probably the only person who was not corrupted by the fame that she had won.^[45]

Awards[link]

Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel prize and the first person to win two Nobel Prizes.

• Nobel Prize in Physics (1903)
• Davy Medal (1903)
• Matteucci Medal (1904)
• Elliott Cresson Medal (1909)
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1911)
• Franklin Medal of the American Philosophical Society (1921)^[46]

The Curies reportedly used part of their award money to replace wallpaper in their Parisian home and install modern plumbing into a bathroom.^[47]

Honors[link]

• Madame Curie was decorated with the French Legion of Honor. In Poland, she had received honorary doctorates from the Lwów Polytechnic (1912), Poznań University (1922), Kraków's Jagiellonian University (1924), and the Warsaw Polytechnic (1926).

• Their elder daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935 for discovering that aluminum could be made radioactive and emit neutrons when bombarded with alpha rays. Their younger daughter, Ève Curie, later wrote a biography of her mother.

• Michalina Mościcka, wife of Polish President Ignacy Mościcki, unveiled a 1935 statue of Marie Curie before Warsaw's Radium Institute, which had been founded by Marie Curie. Within a decade, during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, the monument suffered damage from gunfire. After the war, when maintenance was done, it was decided to leave the bullet-inflicted scars on the statue.^[21]

• In 1967, a museum devoted to Curie was established in Warsaw's "New Town", in her birthplace on ulica Freta (Freta Street).^[21]

• The year 2011 was declared the Year of Marie Curie by France and Poland. "Madame Curie", which fills the Jacobs gallery at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s downtown space, is an artistic installation celebrating the scientist.^[48]

• Rue Madame Curie is a street in Beirut, Lebanon, that was named in her honor.

• On 7 November 2011, Google celebrated her birthday with a special Google Doodle.^[49]

• On 10 December 2011, the New York Academy of Sciences celebrated the centenary of Marie Curie's second Nobel prize in the presence of Princess Madeleine of Sweden.^[50]

Tributes[link]

Panthéon, Paris

Tomb of Pierre and Marie Curie

As one of the most famous female scientists to date, Marie Curie has become an icon in the scientific world and has received tributes from across the globe. In 1995, she became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon, Paris, alongside her husband Pierre Curie. The curie (symbol Ci), a unit of radioactivity, is named in honour of her and Pierre,^[51][52] as is the element with atomic number 96 – curium. Three radioactive minerals are also named after the Curies: curite, sklodowskite, and cuprosklodowskite.

Curie's likeness appeared on the Polish late-1980s inflationary 20,000-złoty banknote. Her likeness also has appeared on stamps and coins, as well as on the last French 500-franc note, before the franc was replaced by the euro. In a 2009 poll carried out by New Scientist, Marie Curie was voted the "most inspirational woman in science". Curie received 25.1 per cent of all votes cast, nearly twice as many as second-place Rosalind Franklin (14.2 per cent).^[53][54]

Soviet postage stamp

Polish institutions named after Marie Curie include:

• Maria Skłodowska–Curie Institute of Oncology, in Warsaw
• Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, in Lublin, founded in 1944;
• a private college in Warsaw (Uczelnia Warszawska im. Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie)
• numerous schools of various levels in Poland
• Polish nuclear research reactor Maria.

French institutions named after Marie Curie include:

• Pierre and Marie Curie University, the largest science, technology and medicine university in France, and successor to the faculty of science at the University of Paris, where Marie Curie taught. The university is home to the laboratory where the couple discovered radium.
• The Curie Institute and Curie Museum, in Paris
• In 2007, the Pierre Curie Paris Métro station was renamed the "Pierre et Marie Curie" station.

American institutions named after Marie Curie include:

• Curie Community at the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, in Chicago, a memorial gathering room for students at the university
• In Bayside, Queens, New York, another school named for her, Marie Curie M.S. 158, specializes in science and technology; as does Curie Metropolitan High School – located in Archer Heights, on Chicago's Southwest Side – which has a Technical, Performing Arts and IB program
• The Maria Skłodowska-Curie Medallion, a stained-glass panel created by Jozef Mazur, may be found at the University at Buffalo Polish Room.

Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon starred in the 1943 U.S. Oscar-nominated film, Madame Curie, based on her life. "Marie Curie" also is the name of a character in a 1988 comedy, Young Einstein, by Yahoo Serious.

More recently, in 1997, a French film about Pierre and Marie Curie was released, Les Palmes de M. Schutz. It was adapted from a play of the same name. In the film, Marie Curie was played by Isabelle Huppert. Unlike the 1943 drama, Les Palmes de M. Shutz is a light comedy.

A KLM McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (registration PH-KCC) is named in her honor.^[55]

• KVS is celebrating IYC 2011, and, under this programme, held a nationwide quiz in India, with the topic being "Life and Works of Madam Curie".^[56]

See also[link]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

Fiction[link]

• Olov Enquist, Per (2006). The Book about Blanche and Marie. New York: Overlook. ISBN 1-58567-668-3.  A 2004 novel by Per Olov Enquist featuring Maria Skłodowska-Curie, neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, and his Salpêtrière patient "Blanche" (Marie Wittman). The English translation was published in 2006.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Marie Curie

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Marie Curie

• Out of the Shadows-A study of women physicists
• Pierre Curie and Marie Sklodowska : The First Century of Their Impact on Human Knowledge
• The official web page of Maria Curie Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland in English.
• Detailed Biography at Science in Poland website; with quotes, photographs, links etc.
• European Marie Curie Fellowships
• Marie Curie Fellowship Association
• Marie Curie Cancer Care, UK
• Marie Sklodowska Curie: Her Life as a Media Compendium
• Marie and Pierre Curie and the Discovery of Polonium and Radium Chronology from nobelprize.org
• Annotated bibliography of Marie Curie from the Alsos Digital Library
• Obituary, New York Times, 5 July 1934 Mme. Curie Is Dead; Martyr to Science
• Some places and memories related to Marie Curie
• Marie Curie on the 500 French Franc and 20000 old Polish zloty banknotes.
• Marie Curie at the Internet Movie Database – Animated biography of Marie Curie on DVD from an animated series of world and American history – Animated Hero Classics distributed by Nest Learning.
• Marie Curie – More than Meets the Eye at the Internet Movie Database – Live Action portrayal of Marie Curie on DVD from the Inventors Series produced by Devine Entertainment.
• Marie Curie at the Internet Movie Database – Portrayal of Marie Curie in a television mini series produced by the BBC
• Works by or about Marie Curie in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics and 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry – Nobel committee page; presentation speech, her award lecture etc.
• "Marie Curie and the Study of Radioactivity" at American Institute of Physics website. (Site also has a short version for kids entitled "Her story in brief!".)
• "Marie Curie Walking Tour of Paris". Hypatia. http://www.hypatiamaze.org/m_curie/curie_walk.html. Retrieved 7 November 2011.