Pierwszy komunikat o odkryciu polonu zredagowany i własnoręcznie napisany przez Marię Skłodowską-Curie

• Authors: Roman Mierzecki

Title variants

EN

The first statement about discovery of Polonium formulated and written in Maria Skłodowska-Curie's own hand

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

AIM: Analyzing and duplicating a genuine hand-written French text of the first statement about discovery of polonium presented to Academy of France on July 18, 1898, which was written with few corrections in Maria Skłodowska-Curie's own hand, together with its exact translation into Polish. 
RESULTS: In a manuscript one cannot find any corrections written in own hand of Piotr Curie, who was mentioned as the first author of the statement. The authoress - Maria Skłodowska-Curie - set her name to the statement as the second signatory in the following form: 'Mme (previously, in a crossed out version: 'Madame') S. Curie'. In her signature the authoress placed a letter 'S' as an initial of her maiden name Skłodowska (and not as an initial of the name). The statement was published in the columns of Comptes Rendus de l'Academie Française. Previously, in the statement, which was issued by the same periodical, the authoress presented her surname in a version: 'Mme Skłodowska-Curie'. So, she was anxious to insist on the fact that both of the statements came from one person. A way of setting the name to the discussed statement caused that some authors describing the discovery of polonium mistakenly considered a letter 'S' to be an abbreviation of the name. 
CONCLUSION: Formulating and writing in Maria Skłodowska-Curie's own hand the first statement about the discovery of the first radioactive element - polonium - confirms some authors' opinion, and particularly Polish ones', saying that a credit for a discovery of a new type of chemical elements - radioactive elements - should be primarily given to Polish scientist Maria Skłodowska-Curie, and not to her husband - Piotr Curie - who was a famous French physicist.

Keywords

EN

HISTORY OF SCIENCE; HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY; Maria Skłodowska-Curie's; discovery of Polonium

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii Nauki im. Ludwika i Aleksandra Birkenmajerów
• Journal: Analecta. Studia i Materiały z Dziejów Nauki
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 1(38)
• Pages: 7-18

Contributors

author

Roman Mierzecki

• Warsaw, Poland