Who Was Marie Curie?
5. Extraction
Nowadays, radioactive materials are extracted from ores using high tech equipment that does the job relatively quickly and safely. Such equipment did not exist in Curies time, however, and the task was far more painstaking.
In order to extract and isolate uranium, Curie would spend much of her timing stirring large pots of boiling uranium ore. By the time they were ready to present their findings to the public, Marie and Pierre had used tons of uranium ore. Curie would often stir the pots for days on end, driving herself to the point of exhaustion. Fortunately for her, and science in general, her hard work turned out to be well worth the effort.
