May 15, 1859 - Birth of French scientist Pierre Curie

The scientist Pierre Curie, son of the doctor Eugène Curie Sophie and Claire Depouilly, was born in Paris on May 15, 1859. Together with his wife, Marie Curie, he was the father of Irène Joliot Curie, who together with her husband Frédéric Joliot received the Noble Prize for Chemistry in 1935, and Ève Denise Curie.

Pierre studied science at the Sorbonne. In 1880 he discovered, together with his brother Jacques de él, piezoelectricity, a set of electrical manifestations that occur in some bodies when they are subjected to pressure or other mechanical action. Electric lighters used to light gas stoves or electric guitar pickups make use of this mechanism.

During his later studies on magnetism, he discovered that magnetic substances, at a certain temperature (known as the Curie point), lose their magnetism.

In 1895 he worked as a professor at the School of Physics and Chemistry in Paris, marrying that same year with the also physicist Marie Curie. He left his research on magnetism to join his wife's research. The couple announced in 1898 the discovery of two new elements: polonium (name given by Marie in honor of her native Poland) and radium.

In 1903 he received, together with his wife and the scientist Becquerel, the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of radioactive elements.

If you want to know about the premature and tragic death of this scientist, click on the following link: Pierre Curie