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Primary sourcePhotograph1923 (depicting earlier work)

Radium extraction in the old shed

Marie Curie · 1923 (depicting earlier work)

A photograph of the shed where Marie and Pierre Curie first extracted radium, included in Marie Curie's 1923 book.

Marie Curie documented in her own book the shed where she and Pierre performed the physical labor of extracting radium.

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Black and white halftone print of a man in a dark vest and white shirt with rolled sleeves, stirring a pan with a long tool at a brick furnace. Behind him are a large metal pot on a wooden table, a stone pot, and hanging tools against a rough wall.
Marie Curie, Radium extraction in the old shed, illustration in her 1923 book.

About this source

What it is

This black-and-white photograph shows a man stirring a pan at a brick furnace, with pots and tools nearby. It appeared in Marie Curie's 1923 book as a record of the modest shed where she and Pierre Curie first obtained radium.

Why it matters

The Curies worked in very basic, even harsh conditions to isolate radium, processing large amounts of material by hand with simple equipment. This image, chosen by Marie Curie herself, shows the physical labor behind one of the most important discoveries in chemistry and physics.

Look closer

  • What does the simple, rough setting of this workspace tell you about the resources available to the Curies?
  • Why might this image matter more to Marie Curie than a photo of an award ceremony?
  • What dangers might not be visible in this photograph, given what radium is now known to do to the body?

This photograph 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 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.Artifact

Primary source

Glass beaker used for the first radium salt solution

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