Born in Paris on 15 May 1859, Pierre Curie was the son of Eugène Curie (28 August 1827 –

25 February 1910) and Sophie-Claire Depouilly Curie (15 January 1832 – 27 September
1897). He was educated by his father, a doctor, and in his early teens showed a strong
aptitude for mathematics and geometry. When he was 16, he earned his math
degree.[clarification needed] By the age of 18 he had completed the equivalent of a higher degree,
but did not proceed immediately to a doctorate due to lack of money. Instead he worked as
a laboratory instructor.[3] When Pierre Curie was preparing his bachelor of science degree,
he worked in the laboratory of Jean-Gustave Bourbouze in the Faculty of Science.[4]

Pierre and Marie Skłodowska-Curie, 1895

In 1880, Pierre and his older brother Jacques (1856–1941) demonstrated that an electric
potential was generated when crystals were compressed, i.e. piezoelectricity.[5] To provide
accurate measurements needed for their work, Pierre created a highly sensitive instrument
called the Curie scale.[6] He used weights, microscopic meter readers, and pneumatic
dampeners to create the scale.[7] Also, to aid their work, they invented the piezoelectric
quartz electrometer.[8] Shortly afterwards, in 1881, they demonstrated the reverse effect:
that crystals could be made to deform when subject to an electric field.[5] Almost all digital
electronic circuits now rely on this in the form of crystal oscillators.[9]
Pierre Curie was introduced to Maria Skłodowska by their friend, physicist Józef Wierusz-
Kowalski.[10]Pierre took Maria into his laboratory as his student. His admiration for her grew
when he realized that she would not inhibit his research. He began to regard her as his
muse.[11] She refused his initial proposal, but finally agreed to marry him on 26 July 1895.[3][12]
It would be a beautiful thing, a thing I dare not hope, if we could spend our life near each
other, hypnotized by our dreams: your patriotic dream, our humanitarian dream, and our
scientific dream. [Pierre Curie to Maria Skłodowska][3]:117

Research[edit]
Propriétés magnétiques des corps à diverses temperatures
(Curie's dissertation, 1895)

Prior to his famous doctoral studies on magnetism, he designed and perfected an extremely
sensitive torsion balance for measuring magnetic coefficients. Variations on this equipment
were commonly used by future workers in that area. Pierre Curie
studied ferromagnetism, paramagnetism, and diamagnetism for his doctoral thesis, and
discovered the effect of temperature on paramagnetism which is now known as Curie's law.
The material constant in Curie's law is known as the Curie constant. He also discovered
that ferromagnetic substances exhibited a critical temperature transition, above which the
substances lost their ferromagnetic behavior. This is now known as the Curie temperature.
The Curie temperature is used to study plate tectonics, treat hypothermia, measure
caffeine, and to understand extraterrestrial magnetic fields.[7]
Pierre formulated what is now known as the Curie Dissymmetry Principle: a physical
effect cannot have a dissymmetry absent from its efficient cause.[13][14] For example, a
random mixture of sand in zero gravity has no dissymmetry (it is isotropic). Introduce
a gravitational field, and there is a dissymmetry because of the direction of the field. Then
the sand grains can 'self-sort' with the density increasing with depth. But this new
arrangement, with the directional arrangement of sand grains, actually reflects the
dissymmetry of the gravitational field that causes the separation.
Pierre and Marie Curie in their laboratory

Pierre worked with his wife in isolating polonium and radium. They were the first to use the
term "radioactivity", and were pioneers in its study. Their work, including Marie's celebrated
doctoral work, made use of a sensitive piezoelectric electrometer constructed by Pierre and
his brother Jacques.[15] Pierre Curie's 1898 publication with his wife Mme. Curie and also
with M. G. Bémont[16]for their discovery of radium and polonium was honored by a Citation
for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the American
Chemical Society presented to the ESPCI ParisTech (officially the École supérieure de
physique et de chimie industrielles de la Ville de Paris) in 2015.[17][18]
Pierre and one of his students, Albert Laborde, made the first discovery of nuclear energy,
by identifying the continuous emission of heat from radium particles.[19] Curie also
investigated the radiation emissions of radioactive substances, and through the use of
magnetic fields was able to show that some of the emissions were positively charged, some
were negative and some were neutral. These correspond to alpha, beta and gamma
radiation.[20]
The curie is a unit of radioactivity (3.7 × 1010 decays per second or 37 gigabecquerels)
originally named in honor of Curie by the Radiology Congress in 1910, after his death.
Subsequently, there has been some controversy over whether the naming was in honor of
Pierre, Marie, or both.[21]
Spiritualism[edit]
In the late nineteenth century, Pierre Curie was investigating the mysteries of
ordinary magnetism when he became aware of the spiritualist experiments of other
European scientists, such as Charles Richet and Camille Flammarion. Pierre Curie initially
thought systematic investigation into the paranormal could help with some unanswered
questions about magnetism.[22]:65 He wrote to his fiancée Marie: "I must admit that
those spiritual phenomena intensely interest me. I think in them are questions that deal with
physics."[22]:66 Pierre Curie's notebooks from this period show he read many books on
spiritualism.[22]:68 He did not attend séances such as those of Eusapia Palladino in Paris in
1905–6[22]:238 as a mere spectator, and his goal certainly was not to communicate with spirits.
He saw the séances as scientific experiments, tried to monitor different parameters, and
took detailed notes of every observation.[22]:247 Despite studying spiritualism, Pierre was an
atheist.[23]

Family[edit]
Pierre and Marie's daughter, Irène, and their son-in-law, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, were also
physicists involved in the study of radioactivity, and each received Nobel prizes for their
work as well.[24] The Curies' other daughter, Ève, wrote a noted biography of her
mother.[25] She was the only member of the Curie family to not become a physicist. Ève
married Henry Richardson Labouisse, Jr., who received a Nobel Peace Prize on behalf
of Unicef in 1965.[26][27] Pierre and Marie's granddaughter, Hélène Langevin-Joliot, is a
professor of nuclear physics at the University of Paris, and their grandson, Pierre Joliot, who
was named after Pierre Curie, is a noted biochemist.[28]