The Radiation of Radium at the Temperature of Liquid Hydrogen; From Communications from the Physical Laboratory of the University of Leiden, No. 135.
Leiden: Eduard IJdo, 1913. First Edition. Offprint, 8vo (240 x 159mm), pp. 16, [1]. translated from Verslag van de Gewone Vergadering der Wissen Natuurkundige Afdeeling der Kon. Akad. van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, 25 April 1913, pp. 1537–1549. Original wrappers, rubbed and toned, very good. Ex–Dr. Myron Prinzmetal. Item #1307
At liquid hydrogen temperatures (20K), Curie and Kamerlingh-Onnes measured radium's, and radiation emissions to determine whether radioactive decay rates exhibited temperature dependence, finding that the half-life remained constant regardless of thermal conditions. This confirmed that radioactive transformation was a nuclear rather than electronic phenomenon, independent of the atomic orbital electron configurations that govern chemical behavior.
Marie Curie is the only person to receive Nobel Prizes in two different scientific disciplines—Physics (1903, shared with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel) and Chemistry (1911). This research proved that radioactivity originates deep within the atomic nucleus, not from the atom's outer electron shells that determine chemical properties. Curie's methodical investigations of radioactive elements, conducted despite primitive laboratory conditions and at great personal cost to her health, established the foundation for modern atomic theory and opened entirely new fields of scientific inquiry that continue to shape physics, chemistry, and medicine.
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