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Glass beaker used for the first radium salt solution

A glass beaker owned by Marie Curie that held the first solution of radium salts.

This beaker belonged to Curie and held the first solution of radium salts, a direct physical trace of her discovery.

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Black-and-white photograph of a clear glass vessel with a flared conical bowl, a pouring spout on the left rim, and a short stem on a flat circular foot, set against a plain light background.
Original apparatus belonging to Marie Curie: glass beaker that contained the first solution of radium salts. Wellcome Collection, United Kingdom.

About this source

What it is

This is a photograph of a glass beaker that belonged to Marie Curie. According to the collection record, it is the original apparatus that contained the first solution of radium salts, and the glass shows discolouration. It is held by the Wellcome Collection.

Why it matters

Radium, discovered through Curie's work, is radioactive, and the discolouration of this glass is a visible trace of that radioactivity acting directly on an everyday laboratory object. It is a rare physical link to the moment radium was first isolated as a chemical substance, connecting a simple piece of equipment to a major scientific breakthrough.

Look closer

  • What does the discolouration of the glass tell us, and why might it have happened?
  • Why would a museum keep and photograph an ordinary-looking beaker like this?
  • What can an object like this tell us that a written description cannot?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marie Curie on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Cover of the January 1904 issue of the magazine Le Radium, showing a printed masthead and a photograph captioned Le Laboratoire de la Rue Lhomond. The photo shows two men and a seated woman among laboratory equipment and glassware, with the caption M. & Mme Curie below.Photograph

Primary source

Photograph of Pierre and Marie Curie in their Laboratory, rue Lhomond

c. 1898-1904

Title page of the 1904 second edition of Recherches sur les substances radioactives by Madame Sklodowska Curie, a thesis presented at the Faculté des Sciences de Paris. Published in Paris by Gauthier-Villars. Handwritten number 5 and a note appear in the top right corner.Book

Primary source

Recherches sur les substances radioactives

Marie Curie · 1904

Document

Primary source

Rayons émis par les composés de l'uranium et du thorium

Marie Curie · 12 April 1898

A museum display case showing a wooden mahogany box with its lid open and a round metal radium container inside, beside a separate lidded metal canister with a brass knob, a key on a chain, and a small cluster of tubes on the glass base.Artifact

Primary source

International Radium Standard

Marie Curie · 1911

Black-and-white photograph of a woman with hair pinned up, wearing a long dark dress with a high lace-trimmed collar, standing beside laboratory apparatus in a room with a wooden table, a wall clock, and glass equipment. A blurred figure stands in the background.Photograph

Primary source

Marie Curie, Portrait Photograph

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