Radium is one of the radioactive elements which constantly emit invisible radiations. The radiations are called radioactive rays. These rays are extremely powerful and can be used in helping control such diseases as cancer because of their destructive powers.
The radio active rays are of three types alpha, beta and gamma. Due to the emission of these rays, a radioactive element slowly disintegrates and gets converted into a different element. Radium disintegrates to finally change into lead. It takes 1622 years to convert half of it to become lead. This is called the ‘half-life’ of the radioactive element which means that it will take another 1622“ years to completely convert radium into lead.
Behind the discovery and usefulness of radium stands the genius and extreme hard work of the famous couple Madam Curie and Pierre Curie.
The phenomenon of radioactivity in uranium had been earlier discovered by Henri Becqurerl in 1896. He found that uranium emits radiations which are invisible to the human eye but are more powerful than X-rays. In 1898 the Curie couple found that thorium also emits similar radiations. They also believed that the uranium ore, pitchblende, must be having some other radioactive substance also. But to find this the ore must be refined to a much higher degree. This was not an easy task. The couple worked tirelessly day and night although they were ‘poor and could not afford a comfortable laboratory for the work. They worked in a tin-shed without paying attention to rain, storm and cold and finally succeeded in extracting 100 milligrams of radium from several tons of pitchblende.
Marie and Pierre Curie were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery in 1903. The unit of measure of the ‘specific activity’ of a radioactive preparation is named ‘Curie’ in their honour