Do Go On - 31 - Marie Curie

Episode Date: May 25, 2016

How does one go about winning two Nobel Prizes and discovering two elements? The answer, it turns out is spend a lot of time in a shed. Marie Curie grew up dirt poor in Poland and educated herself enough to become one of the most impressive people in history... And if that's not enough for you, Jess will try and convince you that she discovered penicillin as well. Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] the show and get rewards like bonus episodes:www.patreon.com/DoGoOnPod  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serengy Amarna 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there. Canada, we are visiting you in September this year.

If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. Do go on. My name is Dave Warnacki, and I'm here with Jess Perkins and Matt Astuitt. Hi, guys. Hi, Dave.

Warnackie. Hey, Dave. Say it, Matt. Warnocky. Thank you. Great to be here. Say it. Say my name.

Say my name. How are we doing? Feeling pretty good. Had a big old meal. And plenty of feels. I've always got too many feels. feels. It's going to be an emotional episode.

That was a big me we just shared. Oh my God. Oh my God. I'm so emotional. Matt, you're doing well over there? Yeah,

I'm doing really well. Thanks, Dave. Thanks for asking. Thanks so much about that. That was your meal. It's really good when you're checking in with me like that because I, you know, sometimes I'm like, I just like someone to check in and connect with me. And I feel like I've done that there.

Jess too. Thank you, Jess. Hey, Jess. Really love to know. Thanks for the physical touch. I'd also, I'd love to know how you're doing. Well, I mean, do you want just my, the answer I would give a barista with They said hi, how are you going?

Or do you want me the truth? Do I look like a barista here? Kind of. Yes, with that fucking beard. Kind of. I've never, like, baristas don't have beards like this. That is such a weird cliche. You're right.

All the beeristas I go to, beiristas. They, um, often they're ladies and sometimes they're beardless men. I'd say maybe one in five. Okay. Is beardless? Bearded barista. So then in answer to my question, you just want me to answer you as a friend. Yeah, as a friend.

So how am I? As a confidant. As a confidant. As a confidant. with your Jeune Secois. Yeah. I'm pretty good.

I'm pretty good. Cudetta. Two day coup d'etat. Two day, coup d'etat. Two day, coup d'et. I am pretty well. I'm a little tired. It's been a big few weeks.

You keep banging on. You've been saying that for weeks. Yeah, I'm always tired. But otherwise, I'm pretty great. Thanks so much for checking out. I wish we've done with the brewery restaurant, so I really, really too. No, I would say the same. answer of being.

I'm pretty tired. It's been a long, big couple of months. So like... Hence I need the coffee, you dumb bitch. Oh, right, I see. They didn't say how are you? It would also include your coffee order. That would be the only difference.

Yeah. Make me a skinny latte. Stat. One sugar. Thank you. Okay. Skinny latte, one sugar. Got it.

Coming right up. Anyway, so it's Dave's turn. It is my turn. Educate us, David. To educate you on a topic. We're going to start with a question. This one's pretty opinion, base. Okay.

Before you do, I want to say, I reckon I get more of these right than anyone else. So I'm feeling good about this. We should go back and try and mark it up on the board, see how we're doing. I got Y2K, but I was very impressed with that one. You did get that. Because you just said virus. Yes, Dave was really going down. I was thinking cholera, AIDS.

And then I finally cracked the code. Okay, yeah, all right. We should go back and find out. So you reckon you're going in confident. I'm pretty good at this. No, no, you fucked it. Go for it, Dave. All right.

question is who is the, this is like really opinion-based, like I said, who is the second most famous scientist of all time? So Einstein's number one. That's exactly why I went number one. There's probably, there's heaps. Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Real person. We've already done, we've already done.

Unbelievably, we've already done a whole episode on Back to the Future. Rick from Rick and Morty. Oh, no, you said real person. Honey, I shrunk the kids. Real person. Oh. Oh, Pinky in the brain. You know what this has become?

This has become can Matt and Jess name a second scientist? I know. You've spotted what I was trying to do there. Cover it up with a joke, but you only know I'm signing. No, no. No. What about the guy figured out the milk can be boiled? Edison.

See, that's the ambiguous part is worth of you. Alexander Graham Bell. Ah, yeah, inventors. I would say there were more inventors. What's the milk guy's name? He figured out pasteurization. His name was Louis Pasteur. Who's, who has the...

Okay, how about who is the most famous, famous? Famous. Who is the most famous? Isaac Newton. Female scientist of all time. I didn't want to have to put that caveat in it. Calistair Flokkeri. It is, that is Murray Curee.

Fuck you, Matthew. Do you know who got that? Jess Perkins 1-0. Because he's got cocky, you dickhead. Also, I guessed Callista Flockhart, because I panicked. Also, Marikuri. Yes, Jess? Left head.

Bound it all comes back. Boom. And I'm gone. Well, you're gone because you're, or Matt's gone. You're one nil up and we haven't counted in the other, so you are the winner. My next guess was going to be Mari Kuri. No, it wasn't. You're the kind of guy.

You said Callista Flockhart. You're the kind of guy. But once I collected my thoughts. Every time Jess gets one, you immediately think I was about to say that. Yeah, you do. God. You don't claim that. Such a misogynist.

Did you guys know anything? Just like, you're a misogynist. and Dave's a Nazi sympathiser and I'm just a little angel over here. He's not a misogynist, he's a homogenist or a pastura. A milk joke, that was a milk. No, no, no, the homogenous was good enough. Thank you, thank you.

Thank you. Do you guys know much about Mericuri? Left-handed. Discovered penicillin? No. Discovered invented. That's Fleming. Oh, yeah.

Nothing to do with penicillin. Nothing did with penicillin. I thought she has something with penicillin. No. She did a lot of great stuff. Can you edit that out? No, I don't. She did a lot of great work in the 1800s.

Was a woman? Was a woman. First name, started with M. She's not still a woman. She's a ghost now. Well, a ghost woman. Ghosts don't have sex. Don't they?

They don't have genders. But they do have sex. They have orgies. No, I thought my would have sex. Ghost orgy. Ghosts. But they don't have it with each other. They have it with you while you're sleeping.

The way I understand it is. I don't know anything about any scientist. The way I understand it is. But the way I understand it is, Mari Curie is like she probably should be more famous than she is. Nothing to do with penicillin, really. That's how famous she is. Just thinks that she's... I thought she has something.

Penicillin. Where soon as you tell me what she did, I'm going to be like, oh... Okay, I'm going to tell you all about it. She did lots of things, though. It wasn't one big thing. Oh, no, many, many. She is one of the most impressive women I've ever read about. But to be...

The most impressive people, I should say. Just to confirm. No penicillin. Penicillin will not be mentioned. Did she ever take penicillin? No, it was not around yet. Hmm. Did she discover the cure for meats?

She cracked the code. Sorry, what was so great was his face, was so satisfied, and then we high-fived. It was going. I wasn't sure where I was going. You know, like starting a sentence and seeing where it goes. But you look so sincere, and then it was like, I got out of that with a joke.

Zing. As soon as you start to talk, there's going to be some point along here where I'm going to go, that's what it was. Penicillin, no. But I'll have been thinking of the other thing.

It's basically my way being able to get out of it. She's discovered something to beginning with P, I'll tell you that much. Oh. But it's not... Pans.

Strahmi. She discovered pens. She found one in a volcano. Pens, Pyr. Pirates of Penzance. She wrote Pirates of Penzance. Yes. Gilbert and Sullivan.

and Marikiri. That's what they're called. That was her pen name. It's Gilbert and Sullivan. He just keep high-fiving. Too many high-fives. No such thing. Do you want me to tell you about it?

Nah. Let's move on. All right. Thanks for stopping, boy. Good episode. Catch you later. Quick one. It's good one.

Now please, let's hear about penicillin. Yeah, I'd love to. Yeah. I'd love to hear about penicillin. Well, we're about two. Two hours of penicillin facts coming up. Pippa-pennicillin. Marikuri was.

born in Warsaw, the then Russian partition of Poland on November the 7th, 1867th. You're out about 1800s there, Matt? 1867. What a good year for wine, cheese and maricuree. Put them together, what do you got? A lethal combo. A great party.

Delicious, yeah, delicious entree. You leave them out overnight. There's some cured meats. Yeah, leave them out overnight. What do you got? Penicillin. Really? That's how they got penicillin from mould. Anyway, her birth name. That's true. Her birth name was Maria

Sklodowska. Sklodowska. Sklodowska. That's a great Polish name. She was the youngest of five children born to two very intellectual teachers. Smart family. Not to be a second for dumb teachers.

No, no, no. Really stressed intellectual. No, but they were very intellectual people. They were very intellectual pig farmers. It's like my librarian pig farming mum. Call back to two weeks ago. Yeah, I don't know if you'll even leave that in. Both sides.

of her parents' families had lost their property and fortunes through their patriotic involvement in Polish national uprising. P, she invented Poland. That's the P word I'll see. She invented Paul. That's actually very close to what the answer is going to be. Nail polish. My God, Polish and Polish are the same fucking word.

Oh my God. How are we meant to know if you're meant to be polishing or are you polishing? Actual mind-blown. So, well... I'm going to keep guessing. They lost their property and fortunes through involvement in Polish or Polish national uprisings. Now I can't tell you.

I read this. No one told me this. They were trying to restore Poland's independence from Russia. The most recent uprising occurred two years before she was born. So their financial situation was very difficult. Her father, it's going to be very difficult to pronounce, but it's were ladies' law Sklidowski.

Well, ladies' law. It is W-L-A-D-Y-S-L-A-W. I love it. Ladies' law. Ladies' law. Make me hungry. For ladies. Ladies' law.

And cold-slaw. Ladies' law taught mathematics and physics and subjects that Maria was to pursue. He was also the director of two Warsaw Gymnasia for boys. And gymnasia is a school with strong emphasis on academics. academic learning in Europe.

Disappointingly, nothing to do with gymnastics. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I was disappointed. But after Russian authorities limited laboratory instruction from Polish schools, he bought home most of his lab equipment and instructed his children how to use it. Oh, cool. He wanted his daughters to be as educated as his sons, which is not as common as we're about to find in this day.

The father was eventually fired by his Russian supervisors for having pro-Polish sentiments. Or pro-Polish. or pro-polish sentiment. We're not sure. We're not sure. You never know. And he was forced to take lower paying jobs. The family also lost money on a bad investment

and eventually chose to supplement the income by lodging boys in their house. Let us let people stay with them. Maria's brother, Bronislawer. Such good names. He sounds like a dinosaur. No, that's the mother. That's a woman. Bronislor.

He said brother. Mother. Did I say brother? Yeah. Maria's mother, Bronislora, operated. prestigious Warsaw boarding school for girls. She resigned from this position after Maria was born, but she died of tuberculosis in 1878

when Maria was just 10 years old. So not a great start for Mari. Not a great start. She was unable to enroll into any Polish universities because she was a woman. And also she was applying for the Polish universities. I just want to paint fingernails. That is a man's job.

So she and her sister Brony Brony Started You know what Brony means? It means It's male fans Of the My Little Ponies

Yeah, Bronies Bros that like ponies Yeah, that's a real thing It's a big thing Is that fucking true? It's fucking true It's so great Bronies and they're obsessed

With My Little Pony Boney's love? Boney's love ponies It's like a big sub It's like a subculture thing But yeah They're if you go online For adult people

Yeah, for adults. It's like being a fan of... Disney movies or whatever it may be. Or the Collingwood Football Club. Just being a fan. They're fans. Do these people have anything to do with... Sometimes they get followed by My Little Pony sex bots on...

Yeah, I think it can. Is it sexy? Can be. I don't know, yeah, I think it can be. Like, anything can be. I think there's like My Little Pony fan fiction. Erotic fan fiction. Yeah.

Monies be fucking. Yeah, but I mean there's erotic. fan fiction. My little boner. So erotic fan fiction of this podcast, that's when you know you've made it. That is what I'm going to do. We'll end up having sex with each other, you understand? Can I like to read about it?

Yeah, it's just written down. We don't actually have to have sex with each other. Oh, is that how fan fiction works? But thanks so much for being disgusted by the idea of having sex with any of us. Thank you. That is really, that's hurtful, mate. Yeah, I've got qualities. You've got qualities.

Well, you don't think Jess has qualities. That's laughable to you. Hey, Matt, I'd have sex with you. I don't have sex with you too Dave thanks mate you're my brony well don't go there mate that disgust me that's where I draw the line yeah none of that thanks anyway back to Madame Curie marina she was known then was unable to enroll in any Polish universities because she was a woman so she and her sister Brony started studying at the underground secret uni the flying university so flying university started studying imagine if you went to a

a union secret you weren't getting in credit for it you just Just wanted to learn. Just wanted to learn how to fly. I just wanted to get a degree because I thought I should. It's the only reason I went to you. But you wouldn't get the degree. So back then, you would have been like,

no pressure. I would be like, sweet, I'll stay at home. I'll stay at home, yeah. Find a husband, no problem. Jakes, I'm really on a track dude. I'm really on a drug to him. Maria then made a deal with her older sister Broney. The deal was that Brony would go to

university in Paris where women were allowed to study and Maria would stay home and work to support her financially spending every penny she made. Then when Brony finished she would do the same for Mary. So they do like a swap thing. What a good team. It's pretty nice, isn't it? So Marie, I'm just going to call her that from, I'm going to call her Mari from now. She later changed the name when she moved to Paris. But anyway, she worked as a governess to support her sister who then studied medicine in Paris. Marie hated the work, but whilst working as a governess for relatives of her father, she fell in love with their son, Kazmets Zerowski.

Wait, the child that she was looking after? No, no, no, no. So people that were related to the family she was working for, which is related to her as well. So she fell in love of the man that she was vaguely related to. But his parents... Hot. Hot. That's hot.

Love is hot. You know what gets me going Love The idea of being loved Oh yeah So sexy My mode is 11 Alright guys

It's not that kind of podcast Right let's take it back a notch A bit x-rated over here Oh god The fan fiction Not even fiction I just love being valued And loved

Respect it Oh so good I respect you Oh yeah Respect me Oh baby but this guy Casmeats, his parents rejected the idea

of him marrying a peniless relative and they couldn't get married but he would go on to be a famous mathematician in his own right and according to Robert Reed's biography of Curie written in the 1970s this is a quote still as an old man

and as a mathematics professor at Warsaw University Casmeats would sit contemplatively before the statue of Mari Curie which had been erected in 1935 that was a bit sad isn't it He would just sit there and look at the statue of this now world famous woman. But he once was...

40 years later. He could marry. 40 years. But he had a family of his own. I did look into him. And he was a very famous, um, Polish math guy, but still pretty sad, right? If that's true, he was not happy. Right?

No, not at all. Or he was jealous. Yeah, I'm jealous. I'm going to sit and watch the thing. It's got to be a better way of dealing. with it, sir. Look at something else. Read a newspaper.

Go do some maths. Maybe he was just sitting there watching the pigeon's shit on it. Yeah, going, yeah. Take that. Take that, your left eyelid. Take that, head laugh. Cop that, Hitler. Cop that.

So, Mari's sister Brony a few years had passed, and she'd married a Polish doctor in Paris. How do you spell Brony, by the way? B-R-O-N-I-E. Oh, that is the same spelling, I think, as the My Little Pony fan. Brony. And that's a nickname. She's got a longer Polish name. She goes by Brony.

But that's what they called her. So she married a doctor. And she'd become a doctor herself. And then she invited Mara to join them. She had nearly given up on her dream because she was a bit old. She's in her early, mid-20s. And she's like, maybe I've missed out on going to uni myself. But her sister really encouraged her.

But she had needed to wait another 18 months to save up money to go to Paris and go to the university. And all this time that she's been working as a governor, she was studying and reading and self-educating herself to get ready for the course. She's finding textbooks, going to libraries and stuff like that. She's so much, she just wants to learn. No, no, she loves to learn. She just wants to discover penicillin. But they won't let her.

They just won't let her. In 1891 at age 24, she went to Paris to study at the University of Paris, commonly known as the Sorbonne. Soboron. A famous sort of institution. But by then she'd been away from, a formal study for six years and she hadn't had any training in understanding rapidly spoken French. So it was a big learning curve to go to lectures where people are firing French at you.

What she did was she lived with her sister for a time with her husband before renting a cramped attic garret closer to the uni than the one hour carriage from her sister's apartment. So every day she'd go on a horse drawn cart for an hour and then go back. So she went closer. But she had no money, she studied all day and tutored others at night to try and make some money. She could barely afford to eat and lived on a diet of water and bread and sometimes fainted from hunger. Tough way to learn. Man, if you, they talk about that. If you don't have a good breakfast, kids can't learn. I haven't Paris, though. Bread's a big part of the diet anyway. I love bread.

Yeah. I love bread. Fuck, she was lucky. I'm water. I used to think that as a kid, like, because you know how they say that you've just got bread and water in prison? I'd be like, I can handle it. I love bread. Come at me. Is it crusty?

Oh man. Imagine it's like a nice, like a bit of crusty bread roll. Like it's crusty on the outside, it's soft on the inside. Oh, yeah. What do you're going to dip it in a bit of, I imagine they have soup there as well. They just haven't told us whole story, a bit of soup. Yeah, I'm just an entree. At worst case, no, a bit of dip.

Oh, yeah. What do you go? Homis. Homis. A bit of Susik. Yeah, Zuzuki, a big Tuzziuki fan. Maybe a bit of special occasions you could get some, maybe some roast of capsicam. Oh, yeah.

I were talking to. Or beetroot and mint. Oh, beetroot, I mean. Avocado. Mm. Guacomole. Spring onion. Naturally.

Yeah. Anyway. I don't know what I was going on about that for. She was having a great time in Paris. She's great. She's a okay. Everything's coming up, Mari. She was having a great time.

She was enjoying the cold of the attic in winter that was so intense at night. She had to pile on everything she had. So good. So she could stay warm and stay alive. I love that. I love snugging up. Yeah. It's the best.

Snugging. Hey, you know, it's a great. Great thing is having half a piece of bread Then putting on all your clothes and go on to bed How good so? Oh, man, I might do that when I get home tonight I'm doing it right now Oh, he is

Look how snuggly you look Hey, any room under that blanket? Oh, come on over Oh, let's do the rest of the podcast from inside this Giant beanbag Inside the beanbag Yeah, all right Unorthodox but I like it

Yeah, it's warm He's wearing that bean bag Beanbag Beanbag boy There's little white balls have gone everywhere You're going to have to vacuum that up I refuse Can you vacuum them?

Yeah, you must Anyway, so she persisted during these harsh times And two years later in 1893 She discovered penicillin Not quite But she was awarded a master's degree in physics As the year's top students

So top students Physics She discovered physics I think I've got it And remember she wasn't going to Porsche She invented Porsche She invented Porsche

She invented Porsche She invented the Porsche. No, she discovered Porsche. I call it the 9-11. This is going to be a good name for a while. And then... Then it's going to get a little bit awkward. But we won't change the name.

Whatever. But she was the year's top student, which I found amazing, like two years after not being able to speak much French and suddenly the top girl. Gosh, she just wants to learn. I love it. I just didn't want to learn at uni. Look at me though. I haven't discovered Pencil.

Have I? No, that's right. That's how it happens. If you'd discover penicillin, I'd be talking about you right now. I wouldn't be on this fucking podcast, that's for sure. Mari started working in an industrial laboratory under Professor Gabriel Lipman, the man that would invent colour photography. Oh, wow.

That's pretty cool, isn't it? That's great. She continued to study in 1894, was awarded a second degree, this time in mathematics, as the year's second best student. Top two. Einstein number one. That will annoy her for the rest of it. No, it won't.

After she graduated, Marie was looking for a larger lab space to carry out her own work, and a friend introduced her to a man that she thought had such a space. Turns out he didn't have any lab space at all, but that man was Pierre Curie, and the two got along very well. Oh, a bit of a sizzle there. Yeah. He was eight years old. Were they related?

Because they had the same same. She's still a Sklodowski at this stage. Oh, that's confusing. Even bigger coincidence. It is amazing Well, she did try and marry that family member earlier on of the piece Let's not forget that That's a good point

This handsome young suitor Pia Kiri was eight years older than her That's hot And already known internationally as a physicist So how old is she at this site? How old are they? What are you? No, no, the one we're in now

Oh, what, you there? What age is this? 27 she is, so he's 35 Yeah, it's a good age cap You like that? You approve? It's a good gap. I like a gap.

I'll let him know. I don't know why I'm. Shut up, Jess. Age gap's better than a wage gap. Well, there's going to be a wage gap with him for most of the time. Pierre was described as a serious idealist and dreamer whose greatest wish was to be able to devote his life to scientific work. He was completely indifferent. I just want to science.

He was completely indifferent to outward distinctions. He had not attended one of the French elite schools, but he'd been taught by his science. father who was a physician and by a second private teacher. So he's making his own way. Kind of. You can go your own way. Did he write that song? Yes, he is Mick Fleetwood.

Their mutual passion for science brought them increasingly closer and they began to develop feelings for one other. I wonder what kind. Hate. Hatred. Mainly bitterness. Envy. A lot of envy.

She was eating all the bread. Develop feelings. Clamminess. No, no. They were just very touchy. They just touch each other a lot. It was really weird. But mainly with pokes.

Pokes. Or they just like place their hands, like open palms on each other's faces. Just leave it there for five minutes? Yeah, like a long time, an uncomfortably long time. And then write down in their diary, like in a scientific experiment.

Yeah, like clammy hands on face, that kind of feeling. Well, Pierre's initial marriage proposal was rejected as Mari thought that she would return to her Polish homeland. Marriage proposal? Pierre, however. thought they were just a couple of scientists

do a couple of science things. Well, they've got some sexy feelings. Dave, come on. Pierre declared that he was ready to move with her to Poland, even if it meant being reduced to teaching French. There's no less noble more less noble position

than a French teacher. But Marie returned to Poland to visit her family in 1894 and discovered that the Crackal University would still not let her work or study there as she was still a woman. Fancy that What had you done in all this time?

You got two degrees under your belt And your gender hasn't changed Can you believe this? Bullshit Dave How do we tell him Don't tell me what Is it about his haircut

Fuck you My main man for Squally Did this haircut How you tell him, Gap I've already had an entire episode Rewoning the Myth of Santa Education doesn't Change Gender

You can't change it. Do you know how I know that? Do you know who discovered that? Penicillin. Mr. Penicillin. Mick Fleetwood. I'm going to get it. I'm going to get what it is.

Pikelets. Come on, Matt. Poffer G's not many Dutch fide. It's all fun in games, okay? I really thought it was penicillin. Poffer Js did just make me hungry. Fuck, what is it? We will get there.

So Pierre wrote her a letter and convinced her return to Paris to pursue her PhD. Oh, come back to Paris. My little button cup. I'm missing you so much. Come home. Him. Come home to Paris.

And we can do some science. Apologies to our French listeners. We can get married. This is why I'm no good at the improv games because I crack myself up. God, that was hilarious. Sorry, what did you say? I was too busy laughing my own life. Okay, do some of science.

You love the science. Come home to science. I'm jet-wacked. Well, Pierre. You're going to sound like a real traveler because it was two weeks ago you were talking about it as well. Well, Pierre, who we got some direct quotes from.

Pierre. She invented Pierre. He's made up. Possibly. During this time, Pierre had really, received his own doctorate, was promoted to professor at the school in Paris. She returned to Paris and they were married in July, 1895. 1895.

Marie's dark blue outfit worn instead of a bridal gown would serve her for many years as her laboratory outfit. She'd wear her wedding dress. She's such an eccentric. While doing science. And she was an atheist too, so no religious stuff going on at their wedding. Love it. Very unusual for the time. Yeah.

Polish people, or the Polish state was very, is still very Catholic. Very Christian. Her family was Catholic growing up. Yeah, it's like a super high percentage of Catholics. I think even now, like 90% or something, that might not be real. But like what, that's very high. Very high. Very high.

It's very beautiful place from what I've seen of it too. All them churches and stuff. I've not been. But I have been to Paris where Pierre is from. That's right. Well, outside of science... Come on to Paris for some science! Well, she's come home and now they're married.

Outside of Science, their two favourite hobbies. where long bike rides and fucking. And fucking. And overseas travel. They received money for their wedding from her family and spent it on two bikes. They could have just got a tandem bike. I imagine them riding on a tandem, but I think it was two separate bikes. In Pierre, Marie had found a new larvae partner and a scientific collaborator on whom she could depend.

Who was it? She found a scientist in him. Cut it out of you. That was her first discovery. In 1896, Marie passed her teacher's diploma, coming first in her class. Back on top. That's where she belongs.

Then in September 1897, she gave birth to their first daughter, Irene. It was after this, Marie or Marie began looking around for a suitable subject for her own doctoral thesis. Insert science time. Science time. Woo! Do, do, do, do, do, do, do science time. Mara Curie.

Hi, welcome back to Science Time with Maricuri. I'm Marie. You can call me Marie. What are we doing on the show today, Marie? Today we're inventing penicillin. Oh, great. I've heard so much about it. You never stopped talking about it.

Do go on. Show us how it's done. Okay, so I'm just going to give some context for the science at the time. So just a little bit before this in 1886, a guy called Heinrich Hertz, After which hurts his name? It's hurts. You know the unit of frequency? I said you meant.

I'm going to say the car. Not the shitty hire car company. Shitty? They're great. I've dealt with hurts a lot in the recent weeks. Apologies to the hurts guys. So there's that guy. You might have, you might have, you know what, you might have, you might have, with those words,

you might have hurts their feelings. That was not worth a high five. Yeah, it was. You also missed mine, Robert. It hurts, but that's right. Oh, I basically did Jess's joke later and better. So this guy in 1886, he demonstrated the existence of radio waves. That was his big discovery.

Then in 1895, Wilhelm Rontgen, a German physicist, he discovered x-rays, which would land him the first ever Nobel Prize for physics in 1901. He discovered the... He died from radiation, right? Is that him? X-ray guy? I'm not sure how he died, but Ronkin is a unit of, we would have talked a lot about, it's an old unit for measuring radiation.

So, like, Rontkins is what they were measuring. One Ronkins is the amount that kills you because that's what he had. I might be wrong. Definitely early people who were tested on. No, he died at 77. He was fine. Oh, just his bloody, maybe the people he... Well, the people we're talking about, maybe.

So Ronkin, so he won the Nobel Prize. He discovered the ability of radiation to pass through opaque material that was impenetrable to ordinary light. So you usually shine a torch on something. It can't get through. But he discovered if you shine radioactive light, like an x-ray through it, shows what's on the other side. So that's his big discovery.

Then third guy, which is the final guy. Henry Becorel, a French scientist, discovered that uranium was emitting radiation that could pass through foil and darken a photographic plate. So he discovered that uranium's got excellent. X-rays, similar things to X-rays coming out of it. Becaryl's discovery had not aroused very much attention when just a day or so after his discovery he informed the Monday meeting of the French Academy of Sciences, which I enjoy the having Monday meeting.

Oh, it's so good. I imagine they also all have to bring a plate. Yeah. Like somebody's brought the ice of ovos. Oh, it's awkward when two people bring the same thing. Monty Carlos, you know that's my thing? Fuck. Carried eggs.

Mate, stick to fairy bread for fuck sake. You do it well, mate. Good at it. Yeah, just stick with it. You don't have to do the Monte Carlo. You don't need to. Gary does the Monte Carlos and he doesn't really well. Don't take away Gary's thing and we all like your fairy bread.

Honestly, I hardly even recognize these as Monte Carlos. It's sloppy work, mate. I'm sorry. No, don't take it like that, mate. You get back here, young man. You listen to me when I'm talking to you. Nah, fair enough. Good on you, mate.

So what he'd done was he'd made this discovery that he was excited about, then he came back and told everyone about it. They listened politely, then quickly went on to the next item on the agenda. So they're like, cool story, man. Yep. Anyway, they were excited about Ronkins' discovery of x-rays. So that's what they wanted to talk about. So Ronkins, where it's at, Beckerool, they didn't care about.

Fuck off, Bekeral. Come on, mine. But someone who did take notice of Bekeral was our friend, Marikuri. Oh. She decided to make a systematic investigation of these mysterious, quote, uranium rays, and go for the topic that no one was talking about. She's like, I'll do a PhD on that, no one cares about that, no one's looking at that, I'll do that.

So, results were not long in coming, just after a few days. Murray discovered that thorium gives off the same race as uranium. She was pretty excited. That's another element, by the way, thorium. Named after the Marvel character, Thor. Which is also the Viking word for Thursday. Also named after peas that have been out of the freezer for a bit.

Or the feeling of pain if you have a lisp. My tongue is the thor. I call it thorium. Pardon? Thorium. One more time just so I can write it down for all of my history. Thorium. All right.

I'll do it. It's science. Boom, you've got science. So if you discover that real quick, so you then went through the whole periodic system at that time to try and find if everything has these rays There was only seven things on it at the time. Did you know that?

That's not true. There was 78. Seventy-out is what I meant. That's what I said. I think if you want the tape back, if you go back to the tape. So she went through all 78. Her findings were that, of all known elements,

only uraniumithorium gave off this radiation. But Pierre, who was doing other stuff with crystals, that was his thing. I'm playing with the crystals over here. Do not mind me, my little peanut. I love you so much. Where is our daughter Irene? Maybe she would like to see the crystals.

Let's go into the crystal by craad. But he was so excited about the idea. He saw Mari having a great, good old time over there. So he jumped on the bandwagon, and he wanted to help her out. What is my little butterfly Mary doing? I will help her with her. You're having such a great time with this laborious... That looks way more fun than crystals.

Fuck, I hate crystals. Why do I dedicate my life to fucking crystals? I much prefer. What was he doing with the crystals, like checking out the healing powers or something? He'd invented some machine. He was a brilliant man in his own right. He'd invented some machine early on that could extract stuff from crystals. Sounds like a bullshit thing, though.

If you're a science guy, it would be cool, but I ain't. I'm a thorium kind of go. You're a math man. You're really milking it, man. All right, just let the joke die, would you? Her next idea was to study the natural ores that contain uranium. and thorium. It was her hypothesis.

The new elements that was considerably more active than uranium was present in small amounts in the ore. So she's gone through like heaps of pitch blend. She's like, I reckon there's another element here. So they started to think, her and Pierre, that they had discovered not one, but two new elements. My little marie, do you think we may have discovered not one, but two new elements?

Also, would you like a cup of tea? I'm putting the kettle. The first element they thought they discovered, here comes the P discovery. Here it comes. No, wait, I can do this. Pumpkins. The first was a metal that they suggested be called... Perthane.

Per Spax. Perkins. Perkins. Plotonium. Platinum. Platinum. Platinum. Platinum.

They called it. Do you want to say it? No, give us a little bit of it. Polo. Polifonic. spree. Polo. Polo.

Polo. Polo. Marco Polo. The fragrance. By Ralph Lauren. The horse game. Polo. By Ralph Lauren.

Polo. They suggest it would be called polonium. Named after. That's her big thing. Marie's Homeland. What's what it's named after. Polonium. The place that wouldn't even give her a fucking degree.

And the second thing that is, covered, they suggested was a substance that they suggested be called radium. Radium. Is that what you're thinking of? No.

They also... What the fuck was I thinking of? So they published a report about this and they also used and coined the word radioactivity for the first time. Yeah, well that's something. I've heard of that.

They coined radioactivity. You know what else you've heard of? Penicillin. Yeah. When did she get onto the penicillin part? Yeah, get to the penicillin. Skip all those bologna, mate. Unless you're going to talk about

Bologna. The Mari cured meats, but you know, I didn't even mean, I didn't even notice the connection between her name and cured meats at the time until just then. Are you serious? That's why I laughed so much. And I did notice it, thank you.

I didn't. I was when you said, found the cueer for something. Yeah, I was just not going to, anyway, cure for something. So they published these findings, but in order to be sure that what they had discovered was in fact new elements.

They had to produce them in demonstrable amounts to determine their atomic weight and preferably isolate them. But to do this, this, they would need tons of the ore pitch blend, I mentioned. And in order to get, they needed tons of pitchblende to get tiny quantities of polonium radium. This was very expensive, but was donated to them, so they were very lucky in that sense.

The other problem was that they needed more space to carry out their experiments. The principal of the school Pierre taught out let them have use of a large shed, which was not occupied. It was not watertight and often leaked, and it was a hot house in the summer and cold in the winter. Sheds, that's what I was thinking of. She invented the word shed. A famous... Polonium, come on.

A famous chemist, Will Hale Otswold, described their laboratory. This is a quote. At my earnest request, I was shown the laboratory where radium had been discovered shortly before. It was a cross between a stable and a potato shed.

And if I had not seen the work table and items of chemical apparatus, I would have thought that I was being played a practical joke. So this workspace is shithouse, in other words. It's not a laboratory at all, but they're doing some very famous sciencey stuff. They were very laborious and got underway separating the tiny elements from the pitch blend. Mari carried out the chemical separations.

Pierre undertook the measurements after each successive step. Swipping in to take the credit. Possibly. Typical man. Physically, it was very hard work for Mari. She processed 20 kilos of raw material at a time. First of all, she had to clear away pine needles and any debris in the rocks, and then she had to undertake the work of separation.

This is a quote from her. Sometimes I had to spend a whole day stirring a boiling mass with a heavy iron rod nearly twice as big as myself. I would be broken with fatigue at day's end. So she's working her ass off. She's still only eating a piece of bread. Yeah, they're not making much money either. The Pierre's getting paid a little bit more because he's teaching and stuff.

And a man. And a man. But this is, so from one ton of pitch blend, they got one tenth of a gram of radium chloride. Yeah, success. What's the street value of that sort of stuff? Could they unsell it for a tiny profit? Well, probably. She identified radium's atomic weight as 225.

Bang, new element, baby. 225. Okay, great. And what is that? Is that good? Yeah, well. It's 225 a good number? I reckon, pretty good.

So now there's 879. How many are there now? Like 150? 2000. 120 or something? 120 or something, yeah. 2000. 2,000.

Just wondering. Just asking the question. It had taken four years of hard work and they were teaching as well this whole time. And they'd written 32 papers on the topic between 1898 and 1902. The kid is, well, no, I'll talk about the kid. Yeah, but they have a kid. They have two daughters now. Two.

They're spending a lot of time. In the lab, in the shed. Oh, boy. In the shed. Poor kids, hey? Probably in after-school care, you know, with a nanny or something. Yeah, we can't afford food, but we've got a nanny. We've got a nanny.

In June 1903, supervised by Gabriel Lippman, Keri was awarded her doctorate from the University of Paris. The committee that examined her thesis had the opinion that the findings represented the greatest scientific contribution ever made in a doctoral thesis. She really had it all. Heaps of praise. That's great.

Like, she hasn't just had person. personal success and like career success but then she's also got a family gives the fuck about the family what does that mean now those kids are dead Jess they're dead let them go

Theranium lives on or whatever the fuck she did I lost interest when I found out it wasn't penicillin I'm sorry I'm like I'm out we could do a little we can do a little addem at the end of pretend

that she would like that just hurry up and finish I'm kidding. I've got a lot more to go. I'm just kidding. A little celebration in Mari's honour was arranged in the evening by a research colleague. The guests include a prominent professor, the soul bond. Einstein.

And, well, not Einstein, but one of the most famous scientists of all time, New Zealand scientist Ernest Rutherford, who was then working in Canada, but temporarily in Paris and anxious to meet Mari Curie. If you don't have this, I'll tell you. He had good reason to meet air. his study of the deflection of radiation in magnetic fields had not met with success until he had been sent a strongly radioactive preparation by the curie so she helped him out by that time he was already famous and was soon to be considered the greatest physicist of his day the element rotherfordium is named after him rotherfordium another one of the classic ones he's known not i was sure like i was i was my face was saying not i had to say it to say it yeah yeah he's knows i didn't want to

I didn't want to have to do that, but I had to. It's very old school. If you are a nerd, he is, like, one of the most famous scientists ever. He's the father of nuclear physics. Oh, my God, I've never heard of him. Oh, my God. How embarrassing. I've never heard of him.

If you invented an element, what would it be called? Methanium. Methaneum. Methamphetamines. We got a methamphetamine. Crystal methamphetamines, please. Oh, is that what the dude was doing? with these little crystals.

Yeah, he was trying to make men. In the 1880s. Yeah, I'd call it Steuanium. What about you? They're not all anium, are they? No. What about oxygen?

Oh, good question. What are you? Well played. I see you know who Ernest Rutherford is. What about? Hydrogen. What about gold? Helium.

There's gold on that? Fulfium, corallium, boron, carbon, silver, bronze, nitrogen, oxygen, all the metals. Fluorone, neon, sodium, magnesium, aluminium. We learned them at school by singing it. Anyway, I'd probably call it a bloody good time. Actually, I've changed my mind. I didn't realize you could call it anything. I'd call it Matt Stewart.

I'd call mine. Matt Stewart is a fuck-in. Oh, damn it. They're next door to each other on the... On the table? I'm with stupid. That's mine. It's part of the name.

You gotta write it. I'll never say no to a good bit of promotion. So I call it do-go-on-eum. Oh. You do love a lot of promotion. You're a bit of a slut for it. That's right. Do-go-on-podium.

Shut up, Matt. What is that fucking name? Oh, that's going on. It's a pod. D-go-on-eim. Good do-go-on-podium. Dugunium. Podium.

It's just Dave Warnocky.com. That was the name of the element. And then you have a link to the podcast. You've done your bit. Every kids. I call mine H-T-T-P colon-slash-slash. Whoa, Ford slash or backslash?

Forward slash. Lord slash, Matt. No one, I mean, everyone knows what the slash is. The guitarist. We've got to go back to this. They're having a little celebration for. for Maris D.F. Oh yeah, the topic.

It was a warmish evening, and the group went out into the garden. This is Ernest Rutherfiz there, you know that guy that we all know. Rutherfordium. Pierre had prepared an effective finale to the day. Fireworks. When they all sat down,

he drew from his waistcoat pocket a little tube, partly coated with zinc, which contained a quantity of radium salt in solution. Suddenly the tube became luminous, lighting up the darkness, and the group stared at the display in wonder. Glow stature. He invented glow sticks.

But in the light from the tube, Brotherford saw that Pierre's fingers were scarred and inflamed and that he was finding it hard to hold the tube. This is because the Curies had no idea how dangerous radiation they were experimenting with. So they just had a radioactive thing in his pocket. He was like, hey, how cool is this? And it's like, no, that's killing you made.

So they worked without any protective gear or precautions. So she was the one who got copped it. I will go on. I don't think either of us invited you to. But do go on. Meanwhile, a new industry began developing based on radium. The Curies did not patent their discovery and benefited little from this increasingly profitable business.

They were against doing so. Pure research should be carried out for its own sake, they thought, and must not become mixed up with industry's profit motive. Oh, okay. You don't want to feed your kids. Cool. Don't worry about them. Do all that hard work. Fuck your kids. Don't worry about him.

Fuck him. Here described the medical test he'd been carrying out on himself as well. He had wrapped a sample of radium salts in a thin rubber covering and bound it to his arm for ten hours, then had studied the wound that left behind, which resembled a burn. Day by day, he looked at the wound, and after 52 days, a permanent grey scar remained. So he's a little bit crazy.

Deadicated. Deadicated. In actual fact, Pierre was quite ill. Legs shook at times he found it hard to stand upright. He was in much pain. He consulted a doctor who diagnosed something that wasn't what it was because they didn't know what radiation poisoning was and prescribed him strychnine. The skin on Mari's fingers was cracked and scarred. Both of them constantly suffered from fatigue.

They had evidently had no idea that radiation could have a detrimental health effect on their general state. Pierre often carried a sample in his waistcoat pocket to show his friends. You know what it sounds like they need? A little bit of penicillin. Yeah. Right? That'll sort out the old girl. Fix you right up.

Fix you right up. It's going to mend that. Dickhead. So you said that when he showed his friends, they were like, well, don't do that because it's bad for you. No, no. So they were like, wow. But Ernest Rutherford, the genius, noticed that his hands were sort of looking like they were scarred. Then he was having trouble holding it.

So he started wondering, oh, that's a bit weird. But what? I mean, how could he, why wasn't he piecing it together himself? I felt shit as soon as I started doing this. I wonder what I wonder what it is. I think a lot of it they blamed on the fact that they were working for four years in that shitty shed with like no ventilation. Yeah, that can scar your fingers. But like no ventilation stuff and I think they were like, oh, it's just chemicals, we're cool, but it wasn't really bad.

Amari used to have a little radium salt by her bed that shone in the darkness. So she kind of used radioactive stuff as a nightlight. And it turns out radium has a half-life of 1,602 years, which means. it takes that many years in order for the radiation to decrease by half. So it's really strong stuff. But some good news is coming. In 1903, the Curious were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics,

sharing the award with Henry Baccarell, the guy that I mentioned before that inspired the experiments. So three of them got that. On their deathbed, basically. No, no, no. That's still going well. Well, they're quite sick, but still... Not for much longer.

Mari had almost missed out because originally the organisation were going to give the award only to Pierre and Becarel. But when Pierre discovered this, he wrote to the committee and explained, hey, she's done this of the work here. And they let her be on it as well. So how bullshit would that have been they didn't get her? She was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize. What a good husband.

Yeah, doing the bare minimum. Good on him. Yeah. God, we could all be so lucky. Yeah. Saying that I should be, I should... I want to find a man who'll do the bare minimum for me. The dream.

Hey, by the way. That's the ticket. That's the Aussie dream. Surely that is the bare minimum going, yeah, she did a lot of the work here. What do you reckon? What do you reckon he could have just slid on? He wrote a letter. He could have sent a text.

Oh, yeah, could have done less. He could have just Snapchatted it. Like, there's less he could have done. He probably would have got a second Nobel Prize immediately for inventing text and Snapchat. Do you know how hard it is to find a stamp? You've got to go to the post. I'll buy some stamp. It's always a fucking huge line.

And this guy can barely stand up. So, okay, Matt, all right? You went to a lot of effort. Okay, fine. That's fair enough. Dave, please do go on. Well, the Nobel Prize, you'll be pleased and I, alleviated their financial worries.

But the curies now suddenly found themselves the focus of the interest of the public and press. They're celebs. They're celebs because their love story mixed with the conditions. They were under, they discovered two new elements meant they were hounded by journalists. Aww. Are their health conditions? Oh, hounded. This is for you, Matt.

Their health conditions were blamed on the cramped shed they'd been working in. So all they wondered was a new, bigger lab to continue their research. Pierre was given a chair at the Sorbonne in 1904, so quite a high position, with the promise of a laboratory, but as late as 1906, it's still not begun to be built. So they're waiting for the lab, they're getting handed by press. They're not enjoying the attention at all. They just want to do science. I just want to science with my wife.

Just want to do science. Well, then, on April 19th, 1906, disaster struck. On that day, Pierre Curie... Unrelated to them, but it was just a bad day. It's a bad day. I thought I'd mention it. In Guam. Well, on that day, 1906, Pierre Curie, a man often lost in his own thoughts, was run over by a horse-drawn wagon in Paris and was killed instantly.

God, even penicillin won't help that. Fuck, yeah. That sounds like a brutal way to go. Yeah. How many horses? How many is enough? Is more than one good? I think you want to...

Yeah, I don't know. I think instantly killed is the best result there. There's got to be a least a couple of horses there, right? But I mean, that saved him from going through the... He was going to die slowly and agonizingly, so maybe that was for the best. Have they ruled out suicide yet? The investigation is ongoing. Jessica, don't laugh at suicide.

But now Marie was left alone with two daughters. Irene, age nine, and Eve aged two. And after a period of intense grieving, she was... Grievening. Grievening, governor. Oh, fuck. I meant to say, after a period of intense grieving, she was appointed to succeed Pierre as the head of the lab,

being undoubtedly most suitable and to be responsible for his teaching duties. She thus became the first woman ever appointed to teach at the Sorbonne. Oh, cool. That's cool. She got a promotion through tragedy. With her oldest daughter, Irene Down 9, her circle of friends consisted mainly of a small group of professors with children of a similar age. So, Mari organized a private school with the parents themselves acting as teachers. So there was a group of some 10 children accordingly taught only by prominent professors.

Wow. So this little group became a kind of school for the elite with a great emphasis on science. The experiment lasted two years, but then they got older and they had to go to normal secondary school. That's pretty amazing That's pretty cool That's a good little bass They would be Yeah

And they are going to do quite well Which I will mention at the end of the show They became the tin lids What does that mean? The tin lids They were a band Jimmy Barnes's kids They did a Christmas album

It was the worst thing ever But also adorable Potentially I'm not sure if that was really funny or not I think that's very funny Because leading up to Christmas I played the T-Embands Tin lids Christmas album on the radio.

It's tin lids. Because it's rhyming slang for kids. Oh, Tinlid's kids. Yeah. That makes sense. I think that's what. It's what Barnsey would have wanted. Was Barmsy in that group of...

Yeah, it was Barnsie... Because otherwise it doesn't make sense. That's what Barnesy was. We are recording this one late in the evening. If you can tell it's been... We're getting there. We are getting there. It's been very silly.

I have been nothing but a professional. Oh, no, so, yeah. One of my most professional. You've been too professional. A little bit... Loosen up, mate. Take off the fucking tie. I'll like it.

In 1908, Mari is the first woman ever was appointed to become professor at the Sorbonne. She finally isolated radium in metallic form and in 1911 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Holy fuck!

Making her the only woman in history to win twice and the only person ever to win in multiple science. What legend. Only ever. Chemists considered that the discovery and isolation of radium was the greatest event in chemistry since the discovery of oxygen. Boom, and I'm gone. I like...

I love that oxygen was discovered. What was that? Oh, that felt good. Hey, I've noticed if I stopped doing this. It hurts. Sometimes it black out. No, I just fight through the pain. That's just your cramped workspace.

Just blame it on the fucking shed. So things are going well for Mari now after tragedy. But... Marikiri began to fill the inconsistency of the right-wing French press, which often criticised her for being a foreigner and an atheist. French press is also just a type of coffee. Hmm. I was not worth it.

I was biting my tongue before. What was the blend thing? Pitch blend. I was, like, a couple of times I was like, it's a coffee. Oh, no, don't. The coffee. Don't, that's silly. So some of the things written about her were absolutely horrible.

Can I guess what they are? What do you reckon? The first thing that comes to mind is somebody's called her a pig woman. I don't know why they came to mind. So I would have called her a godless woman. It would have been all about being a female foreigner. Not French. A godless pole.

I bet they said that. Yeah. That's pretty good. So we'll get back to the end of the second. I'll say in 2011, the French Academy of Sciences did not elect her to be a member by one or two votes. They voted who got to be a member, despite the fact that she'd received two Nobel Prizes and discovered two of the only 80 elements known. at the time.

Yeah, well, Jerry has a beach house. And he said, we can all go there whenever we fucking want. And his mum's going to drive us. So sorry, Mari. You know what? Yeah, I'm voting.

I'm voting with Jerry too. Fuck. I'm with Jerry. Jerry, Jerry. Jerry. She went to Belgium to attend a conference and another small. mere campaign started in the press. Now was a matter of her private life and her relations with

her colleague Paul Langavan, who had also been invited to the conference. He had had marital problems for several years and had moved out from his suburban home, and Murray was depicted as the reason. Both were described in very slanderous terms. So the Langdivin scandal escalated into a serious affair that shook the university world in Paris and the French government at the highest level. At the same time, the papers did not report of her winning a second Nobel Prize or just put it in a few. So she's on the front page for this alleged affair at the same time as winning her second Nobel Prize, but they're not reporting on that.

So weird. So day after day, Mari had to run the Gortland in the newspapers, an alien, a Polish woman. A research was supported by our French scientists had come in and stolen our honest French woman's husband. So you were pretty right about what they were calling her. Predictable. The bloody press. You journalists are all the same, Jess. Nothing about pig women, though.

There was not. Just to clarify. What's French for pig? Uh. Pol. Pog. Le Pog. Le Pog.

Le Pog. Le Pog woman. Le Pau. Le Poh. Womer. Sorry again of the French people listening. Jesus. Sorry again.

Then, uh, there was a burglary in Langevin's apartment. Certain letters were stolen. and delivered to the press and this added fuel to the sensational articles they were writing. There was no proof of the accusations made against Mari

and the authenticity of the letters could be questioned but still her post as professor at the Saw Bon came into doubt. So they started saying maybe you shouldn't be a professor here. Mari returned home

to find an angry mob at her house and had to stay with their daughters at a friend's house for safety. Oh, that sucks. But were their pigs at the friend's house? Possibly. Was Carl Lagerfeld there? Well, the German designer.

Yeah. Yeah. Isn't that who she was having an affair with? No, Langvin. So Langvin, the man accused of being the lover, had been repeatedly insulted, so much so that he felt forced to challenge Gustav Terry, the editor of a newspaper that printed the letters to a duel.

No. He challenged him to a duel. No, that doesn't happen. Fighting a jewel was a usual way of obtaining quite. satisfaction in France at the time, although it was very scarce in academic circles, so usually you don't have these super nerds

going, I challenge you to a duel. Newspaper publishers who would come up against each other in this dispute had already fought duels. Swords were generally used, and a jewelist was usually content with inflicting a thorough scratch on his opponent for the duel to be considered decided.

A thorough scratch. But fatal accidents had occurred, so people have killed each other in jewels over there. Oh my God. Really? People having a sword fight and people would die. But Langvin, he didn't want swords. He asked for pistols. Oh yeah.

Jesus. Still wanting just a significant scratch? You just a scratch. Pugh! Oh shit. But a flesh wound. The jewel. It was pistols at a distance of 25 metres.

It was to take place on the morning of November 25th. Terry, the newspaper guard, did not raise his pistol. Langvin, who had already first raised his then, lowered his and backed out. Oh my God. So no shot at each other. Pursies. But raising at first means you win?

Or is it like being in sales where the last person are... Well, I don't know if there's a win. I feel like the guy who didn't lift his gun is more of a badass. Because the other guy's lifted his gun and aimed it at you and you've gone, whatever. Kill me. All right, I don't know. But he's still standing there, right? I don't know.

But I guess, yeah, not doing it means that the other guy is not going to shoot you because you're not a threat to him. It's an interesting tactic. Tard. I remember that when I'm in a duel. I mean, if you've said, challenged you to a duel with pistols, and then you don't shoot him. What's the point, mate?

It's a wasting our time. Well, that's what the repressed start even reported on that and said it was just a waste of time and a farce. Then, no, we got poor... Would it have been legal for him to kill him? Is it like... I don't think so. No.

So what's the point of it? That's such a weird thing. It's so weird. So he would have been done for murder. Probably. So then like, ugh. Idiots. Idiots.

This is why we can't trust men to do anything. I don't know why. Word. Well, it's because it's true. Well, the Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm who are the people presenting the Nobel Prizes asked Mari to not attend the Nobel Prize award ceremony until she had cleared her name.

She matter of factly replied that she had received the award for her discovery. not her personal life. Nice. And they back down. And since when do you have to, like, prove your innocence like that? Amari gathered all their strength and gave her noble election

on December 11th in Stockholm. She declared that she also regarded this prize as a tribute to Pierre. Aww. So that was a big thing for her to show up and stand up in front of everyone. Because he's dead. Ah.

This enormous effort completely drained her of all her strength. She sank into a depressed state. She was hospitalized and then traveled to England to live with a friend. to hide away from the press and recover. A whole year passed before she would work again.

Man, she kicked on for ages. Is she like glowing in the dark or anything? Yeah, she's doing amazingly well. And she's going to do even more amazing things. In 1914, World War I breaks out. Spoiler alert. She herself took a train to Bordeaux, and the train was overlaided with people

leaving Paris for a safer refuge, so they were leaving the city. But what she had done, she had a different reason for her journey. She had with her a head. heavy 20 kilo lead container in which she'd replaced her valuable radium, a stash of the stuff she's been making. She stashed the radium in a bank vault in Bordeaux and then went back to Paris.

So most people are leaving. She was like, no, I just want to look after my radium. I'll imagine the best. She'll get sweet rent now because she was having to be in that little cold place. Now everyone's pissed off. Oh, she would probably get to live downstairs. Hang in a palace or something. Big shit.

Yeah. Curie saw a need from field radiological centres near the front lines to assist battlefield surgeons. So after a quick study of radiology, anatomy and automotive mechanics, she procured X-ray equipment, vehicles and generators, and developed mobile radiography units, which came to be known popularly as Petit Curie, or Little Curies. She became the director of the Red Cross Radiology Service and set up France's first military radiography. Where she invented penicillin. I'm afraid not. What the fuck did she invent?

It is estimated... She's already won two Nobel Prizes. No, no, no. I'm not impressed. It was estimated that over one million wounded soldiers were treated with her x-ray units. Yeah, whatever. Invent something good. Pretty cool.

And did they get radioactive poisoning or whatever? What do you call that thing? Radiation poisoning. Radiation poisoning. Radioactive poisoning. Nothing was in small enough units to not... kill people. So I'd figure that out by now.

No. In her life, she never admitted what she thought that radiation was bad. Right. She just didn't know. She never admitted it. Yeah, I think that maybe people

started questioning it, but she never said that. In 1921, towards the end of her life, Maori was welcomed triumphantly when she toured the United States to raise funds for research on radium. So there's all this stuff about x-rays and medical stuff

and using radiation to treat cancer and stuff, so that she's starting out of that kind of stuff. Marie rarely granted interviews but did so to a prominent American female journalist known as Missy. Oprah Winfrey. Well, she's got a sweet name. She's just called Missy, Mary Maloney, Missy,

who organized one of the largest and most successful research funding campaigns the world has ever seen. So they wanted to raise money to get more radium to do experiments. Good job, Missy. This is weird. In 1921, U.S. President Warren G. Harding received her at the White House to present her with one gram of radium collected in the United States. This would be to imagine a president handing someone radioactive material. There you go.

It's kind of like somebody giving us a podcast. There you go. Gee, thanks. I already have so many of the home. No, she wanted more. No, she did want more. That was what they were raising money for you. Oh, this is a joke, Dave.

We want more podcasts too, Dave. Yeah, please hand them out. I can figure it out, mate. Actually, Tewood Universities became the recipient of some 20 distinctions in the form of honorary doctorates, medals and memberships in academies. Membership to a local civic video. Oh, the Rotary Club. Costco.

Two for one deals at grilled burgers. Pretty good. Apex. The Lions Club. All the old men clubs. Curie visited Poland for the last time in early 1934 and died from Leukemia in July 1934 at age 66. She met it to 66.

Oh, and it was the chemo. 66, same age as our man from a few weeks ago. Oh, the 66 Club. 66 Club. Not as well as 69 Club, but 66. She was interred at a cemetery in southern suburbs of Paris alongside Pierre. And then 60 years later in 1995, in honour of their achievements, the remains of both were transferred to the Pantheon in Paris.

She became the first woman to be honoured with interment in the Pantheon for her own memory. Oh, that's nice. What were other people? Just plus ones. Oh, yeah. Wives of kings and stuff like that. Yeah, before he died, he said I could be his plus one. Oh, okay.

Come on in. Oh, I'm not dead yet. This is awkward. Dug the hole. Because of the levels of radioactive contamination. 10% yet. How did my Beat house joke? Maybe the best joke of a bit of a bit.

You're laughing at that. I was laughing at you. And then I was just thinking this is fun. I was basically just saying just laughing at the thing I said earlier. No, I didn't. Remember that thing I said 15 minutes ago? How fucking funny was that?

I was laughing. I've already dug the hole. That's funny. Thank you. This is my beach house. Well, of course. It's not even on the scale. Beach House here is what the element

that we've discovered would be cool. Because of their levels of radioactive contamination, her papers from the 1890s are considered too dangerous to handle. My papers are all radioactive. Oh no. Even her cookbook is hardly radioactive. Her papers are kept in lead-lined boxes and those who wish to consult them must wear protective clothing and sign a form saying they accept the risks of handling materials. That's awesome.

What was it, some shelf life again? 1600 years, half life. Half life, yeah. Half shelf. We're just going to quickly go through her little legacy and then what her kids did to wrap up. She left a huge legacy. She's been honoured in many ways. Poland and France declared 2011 the year of Merry Curie.

Wow, I mean, it was a bit of late. And the United Nations declared that that would also be the International Year of Chemistry. So five years ago, guys. The element with the atomic number 96 was named Curium in honor of her announcement. So that's probably another one you haven't heard of it. Oh, that's on the table. Curium. Named after them.

In 2007, a metro station in Paris. was renamed to honour both of the Curies. Several universities are named after her and her husband and her Paris Lab has been preserved as the museum, or Musei Curie. She's been featured on Polish banknotes and the old 500 Frank Note in France before it was replaced by the Euro had her face on it. Oh, that's cool. But my personal favourite is an African stamp from Marley, Togo and Zambia

meant to honour Curie actually showed a picture of the actress Susan Mary Fronsac who was portraying her in a photo. So they accidentally put a photo actress on their stamp. I love that. Whoops. That is a fun fact. Is that a fun fact? Yeah.

Perhaps her biggest legacy is her family, many of whom became famous scientists. The Curie's daughter... We're going to know some names here. Irene... Their daughter, Irene, together with her husband Frederick, won the 1935 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their discovery of artificial radioactivity. Oh, my God. Their two children are both esteemed science.

So, her grandchildren. So that was, was she one of the kids in that super gang? Yeah. Yes, one of the super gang went on to be a Nobel Prize winning. No kidding. That's great. The Curious second daughter, Eve, the younger one, did not become a scientist, but did write a famous biography of her mother.

And her husband, Henry LeBois, was the director of UNICEF when it won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965. Nobel Prize is coming out there, bloody wazoo. And he accepted the... award at the ceremony. Amazing. And Eve also lived to be 102, which I thought was quite impressive. She didn't become a scientist,

but she didn't get weird radioactive early death. Sadly not. Exactly. Prosen Khan. Swings roundabouts. Now the weirdest one of the final note is Paul Langvin, you know the guy that Mary was accused of having an affair with. Yeah. The fashion designer.

Carl Lagerfeld. His grandson, Mikkel, who was also a nuclear physicist, and the grander, daughter of Mari Helene, also a nuclear physicist, got married. So the grandson of the person she had an affair with and her granddaughter got together. That's nice.

So she did have an affair. Got married. Alleged, not sure. And their son, this is the final thing, is also a famous astrophysicist. So the family is crazy scientific. But there you go, there you go. Marikuri, the... Also, she invented penicillin.

Bye! Yes, yes she did I can't confirm nor deny I can deny I can I can deny But see nothing in there was Was the moment I went Oh that's what I was thinking of Yeah

But she did I actually knew sweet fuck all about her then Oh that's cool to know because she's Right and I guess You know one of the most Influential scientists And one of the most Yeah incredible women I've ever read about

So people should know about it What a lady Good job Dave Thanks everyone Sorry that we were dicks, but we always are. Yeah. Yeah, don't apologize. You're just going to do it again next week.

Yeah, we are. Can't wait. Can't wait. But if you want to tell us what to be dicks about next week, as always, you can jump on Facebook, do go on, you find us on there. Twitter, do go on pod, email, do go on pod at gmail.com. You know the stuff by now, or maybe you don't. We have a big hat of suggestions that we...

I always dip into it. That dips into. Your buddy, you're in and out of the hat, Dave. I'm in a hat. Commit to the hat. I know, but I start reading stuff and I hear about, like, Marikiri. I'm like, I had another topic lined up this week, and then I started reading about her. A hat topic?

Yes, it was. It was a hat topic. I'm sorry to betray the hat, but I just, I got excited about her. Hey, don't, hey, don't apologize for getting excited for knowledge, Dave. Thank you. That's what Marikuri would have wanted you to do. You know what she would have wanted you to do? And that is to give us a five-star review on iTunes.

How dare you exploit her like that? No, well, well exploited. Everything else is bloody named after her. Why don't we rename the podcast, Marikiri. Go on. Do Marikuri? No, that's porno, sure. So, who really niche pornos?

Alexander Fleming, the Scottish scientist. No, I don't think that's right. Yeah, I don't know why. It's kind of embarrassing that Dave got that so wrong. It's like he just did a whole hour podcast. I know. That actually was from the hat. Someone suggested, yeah, do the guy that did penicillill.

and I'm like, yeah, Marikiri, bang, I'll do it. Oh, God. Oh, no. An hour and a half later. No, no dice. Anyway. Thanks so much for listening, guys. Yeah, get in contact if you want to,

and we'll see you next week for another delicious. This is probably my last episode, focus about radiation, I will say. Yeah, that's two in a row for you. That's sort of how I got onto it, though. It's got fascinating with radiation. Awesome. Thanks so much, guys. Bye.

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