Exposure to the elements

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Recommended: The impact of the discovery of radioactivity

Most of us would like to believe that we somehow make a difference in someone else’s life. Marie Sklodowska Curie unwittingly succeeded in doing that. She was born in Poland in 1867, but later moved to Paris to further her education. While working on her thesis, she was determined to find out why the uranium ore, pitchblende, was emitting more high energy rays than could be explained by the presence of uranium itself. In 1898, her efforts paid off when she discovered the two new chemical elements polonium and radium. She gave the emissions, of the then unfamiliar form of energy, the term radioactivity. Marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes: one for physics in 1903 and one for chemistry in 1911 ("Marie Curie - Biographical"). She started a chain reaction with her pioneering work in radioactivity; many scientists, like Albert Einstein, followed in her footsteps and started building on her theories and knowledge. As a result, her achievements still radiate into many aspects of our world. I am pursuing to get a Bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory science because I am drawn to science myself, so I chose Marie Curie as the person to explore and highlight four ways in which she has changed my world.
To begin with, uranium was used for the creation of the atomic bomb. At the time, people thought it was the greatest scientific invention in history. In 1945, the U.S. detonated an atomic bomb over the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United States Army Corps of Engineers reports that in both cities combined, an area of 51/2 square miles was devastated and anything still left standing was consumed in the ensuing fires. In total, 105,000 people were killed immediately, and 94,000 were injured (6). The casualties and sustained inj...

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...ng, the story should decrease the public’s unease with nuclear power (253). The Incredible Hulk was one of my favorite superheroes when I was in my teens. In the 1980s, they aired a television series based on the comic book, and I watched many episodes for several years. I would discuss the latest episode with my friends and we would roll play and pretend to be either the Hulk or the person in need of rescue. Altogether, the Incredible Hulk played a small role in my world for quite a while and provided many hours of entertainment.
All in all, Marie Curie was the first person to study radioactive elements. The atomic bomb, weapons of mass destruction, the production of nuclear energy, and the Incredible Hulk can all be associated with radioactive elements. Therefore, in respect to these four points, Marie Curie has changed my world both in positive and negative ways.

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