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With my marriage there began for me a new existence entirely different from the solitary life that I had known during the preceding years. My husband and I were so closely united by our affection and our common work that we passed nearly all of our time together. I have only a few letters from him, for we were so little apart. My husband spent all the time he could spare from his teaching at his research work in the laboratory of the school in which he was professor and I obtained authorization to work with him.
Our living apartment was near the school, so we lost little time in going and coming. As our material resources were limited, I was obliged to attend to most of the housekeeping myself, particularly the preparation of meals. It was not easy to reconcile these household duties with my scientific work,yet, with good will, I managed it. The great thing was that we were alone together in the little home which gave us a peace and intimacy that were very enjoyable for us.
At the same time that I was working in the laboratory, I still had to take a few study courses, for I had decided to take part in the examination for a certificate that would allow me to teach young girls. If I succeeded in this,I would be entitled to be named professor. In August, 1896, after having devoted several months to preparation, I came out first in the examination
婚后的生活对我来说,是全新的,这与前些年那单寒羁旅的生活是有着天壤之别的。我同丈夫情意相投,相同的志趣爱好和共同的工作将我们密切地联系在一起,几乎形影不离,因此我只收藏着皮埃尔写给我的为数不多的几封信。我的丈夫在教学之余,几乎把时间全都用于在他所教学的学校实验室里进行实验了,我也获准同他一起在实验室里工作。
我们就住在学校附近,所以来去不用花多少时间。由于收入微薄,我不得不花许多时间来料理家务,特别是得自己动手做饭。这就与我们的学习和研究产生了冲突,要处理好这一矛盾并非易事。幸亏我还算坚强,勉强地能够把这种矛盾处理好。令我尤为高兴的是,我们小家庭的生活并没有被这些家务事所搅乱,我们仍旧能够过上温馨平静的日子。
在实验室工作的同时,我还不得不学习一些课程,因为我下定决心要参加师资合格证书考试,这样日后便可以在女子中学任教,也可以被授予教授的头衔了。经过几个月的努力,1896年8月,我凭借第一名的优异成绩很顺利地通过了考试。
Our principal distraction from the close work of the laboratory consisted in walks or bicycle rides in the country. My husband greatly enjoyed the out-of-doors and took great interest in the plants and animals of woods and meadows. Hardly a corner in the vicinity of Paris was unknown to him. I also loved the country and these excursions were a great joy for me as well as to him, relieving our mind from the tension of the scientific work. We used to bring home bunches of flowers. Sometimes we forgot all about the time and got back late at night. We visited regularly my husband's parents where our room was always ready. In the vacation we went on longer outings by means of our bicycles. In this way we covered much ground in Auvergne and in the Cevennes and visited several regions at the seashore. We took a great delight in these long all-day excursions, arriving at night always in a new place. If we stayed in one place too long, my husband began to wish to get back to the laboratory. It is also in vacation time that we visited once my family in the Carpathian mountains. My husband learned some Polish in view of this journey to Poland.
But first of all in our life was our scientific work. My husband gave much care to the preparation of his courses, and I gave him some assistance in this, which, at the time, helped me in my education. However, most of our time was devoted to our laboratory researches.
除了在实验室工作,我们主要的休闲方式就是散步或者骑自行车去郊游。皮埃尔十分喜欢户外活动,对森林里的动植物有着很大的兴趣。他的足迹遍布了巴黎附近的所有森林。我向来也喜爱农村,所以经常同皮埃尔饶有兴致地骑车郊游。这种郊游于我于他都有很大的好处,可以使我们的大脑在紧张的科研之后得到充分的放松,令紧张的心情得以缓解。郊游回来的时候,我们还经常会带几束香气扑鼻的花草回家。有时候,因为玩儿得高兴,我们竟然会忘了时间,直到深夜才想起回家。除此之外,我们还会定期地去看望皮埃尔的父母,他们给我们留着专用的房间。假期的时候,我们可以骑着自行车,跑到更远的地方去。我们的足迹遍布奥弗涅、塞樊纳山区和海边的许多地方。我俩都很喜欢全天的长距离远游,每天晚上都要找到一个新的地方休息。如果在同一个地方停留得太久,皮埃尔就老会想着回实验室去干活儿。有一个假期,我们一块儿去喀尔巴阡山区看望了我的家人,而且,因为这次远行,皮埃尔还学会说了几句波兰话。
但是,在我们的生活之中,最重要的自然还是科学研究。皮埃尔对他所教授的课程特别认真,备课也很仔细。我有时也帮助他收集一些资料。在这一过程中,我同样也有所收获。不过,我们还是将大部分时间用于在实验室里进行科学研究。
My husband did not then have a private laboratory. He could, to some extent, use the laboratory of the school for his own work, but found more freedom by installing himself in some unused corner of the Physics School building. I thus learned from his example that one could work happily even in very insufficient quarters. At this time my husband was occupied with researches on crystals, while I undertook an investigation of the magnetic properties of steel. This work was completed and published in 1897.
In that same year the birth of our first daughter brought a great change in our life. A few weeks later my husband's mother died and his father came to live with us. We took a small house with a garden at the border of Paris and continued to occupy this house as long as my husband lived.
It became a serious problem how to take care of our little Irene and of our home without giving up my scientific work. Such a renunciation would have been very painful to me, and my husband would not even think of it; he used to say that he had got a wife made expressly for him to share all his preoccupations. Neither of us would contemplate abandoning what was so precious to both.
Of course we had to have a servant, but I personally saw to all the details of the child's care. While I was in the laboratory, she was in the care of her grandfather, who loved her tenderly and whose own life was made brighter by her. So the close union of our family enabled me to meet my obligations. Things were particularly difficult only in case of more exceptional events, such as a child's illness, when sleepless nights interrupted the normal course of life.
在那时候,皮埃尔还不曾拥有自己的实验室。学校的实验室虽然在某种程度上能够使用,但却满足不了他的研究需要。考虑到这点,他就将学校大楼中一些没有什么用的角落辟作“实验角”。那些地方虽然狭小,但却能够想用就用,不受约束。这件事使我悟出了一个道理:人可以在条件不甚满意的情况下,想办法改善条件,从而心情愉快地工作。那一时期,皮埃尔忙于晶体研究,我则在研究钢的磁性。1897年,我结束了这一研究,并于当年发表了研究报告。
那一年,我们的第一个孩子——女儿艾莱娜出生了,这使我们的生活发生了很大变化。几个星期后,皮埃尔的母亲去世了。于是我们便在巴黎郊区租了一个附带花园的小房子,把他父亲接过来和我们同住。皮埃尔生前,我们一直住在那里。
女儿的出生令一个严重的问题出现在了我们面前:怎样才能做到既可以哺育照料女儿又不至于放弃科学研究呢?放弃科学研究,对我来说,无疑是一种巨大的痛苦,皮埃尔同样认为我不应该放弃研究,并且他从来就没有这么想过。因为他经常在说,上帝特意为他造就了我这样一个好妻子,就是为了让我与他分享一切的。我们两个都没有考虑过要放弃我们如此珍爱的科研工作。
这样一来,我们就必须要雇一个女佣了,但我仍然亲自照料女儿。当我去实验室干活儿时,就把女儿交给她的爷爷照看。爷爷十分疼爱自己的孙女,他的生活也因为小孙女的出生而增添了无尽的乐趣。家人之间相互的关怀、体谅,使我能够既安心地从事研究,又没有耽误对女儿的照料。只有当遇到特殊情况时,比如女儿生病什么的,我才因需要整宿整宿地照看她而打乱生活规律。
It can be easily understood that there was no place in our life for worldly relations. We saw but a few friends, scientific workers, like ourselves, with whom we talked in our home or in our garden, while I did some sewing for my little girl. We also maintained affectionate relations with my husband's brother and his family. But I was separated from all my relatives, as my sister had left Paris with her husband to live in Poland.
It was under this mode of quiet living, organized according to our desires, that we achieved the great work of our lives, work begun about the end of 1897 and lasting for many years.
I had decided on a theme for my doctorate. My attention had been drawn to the interesting experiments of Henri Becquerel on the salts of the rare metal uranium. Becquerel had shown that by placing some uranium salt on a photographic plate, covered with black paper, the plate would be affected as if light had fallen on it. The effect is produced by special rays which are emitted by the uranium salt and are different from ordinary luminous rays as they can pass through black paper. Becquerel also showed that these rays can discharge an electroscope. He at first thought that the uranium rays were produced as a result of exposing the uranium salt to light, but experiment showed that salts kept for several months in the dark continued the peculiar rays.
My husband and I were much excited by this new phenomenon, and I resolved to undertake the special study of it. It seemed to me that the first thing to do was to measure the phenomenon with precision. In this I decided to use that property of the rays which enabled them to discharge an electroscope. However, instead of the usual electroscope, I used a more perfect apparatus. One of the models of the apparatus used by me for these first measurements is now in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Philadelphia.
由于我们忙于事业,不愿意受到不相干事情的打扰,所以我们联系的朋友不多。偶尔有一两位像我们一样的科学工作者来访,我们通常在屋子或花园里交谈,在这同时我还经常为女儿做些针线活什么的。在亲戚方面,仅有皮埃尔的哥哥以及他的家人同我们一直来往密切,在我的姐姐、姐夫回到波兰之后,我同娘家的亲戚就很少来往了,因为离得太远。
正是这种平静并且完全符合我们心意的生活方式才使我们得以完成一生中的伟大事业。自1897年开始,这种科学研究事业就从未中断过。
我决定要为我的博士论文准备论题了。当时,亨利·贝克莱尔正进行着稀有金属铀盐的实验。这种非常有意思的实验,吸引了我的注意力。当贝克莱尔将铀盐用不透光的黑纸密封好放在照相底片上时,发现底片会被感光,好像受到过日光照射似的。贝克莱尔认为,底片被感光,是因为铀盐能够放射出一种与日光不同的射线,它可以穿透不透光的黑纸。此外,通过实验,贝克莱尔还证明这种射线可以使得验电器放电。刚开始的时候,贝克莱尔错以为铀盐在日光下的暴晒是铀盐射线得以产生的原因,但他后来发现在黑暗中存放几个月之后,铀盐仍旧可以放出这种射线。
皮埃尔同我都对这种新发现的射线具有极大的兴趣,我更是下定决心要对它的性质加以研究。要想研究这种新射线,首先就得对它做出精确的定量测量。于是我便利用验电器放电的特性开始测量,不过我不是像贝克莱尔那样使用普通的验电器,而是换用了一种能做定量测量的设备。我当初用来进行测量的这些设备的模型,现在已经被陈列在美国费城医学院了。
I was not long in obtaining interesting results. My determinations showed that the emission of the rays is an atomic property of the uranium, whatever the physical or chemical conditions of the salt were. Any substance containing uranium is as much more active in emitting rays, as it contains more of this element.
I then thought to find out if there were other substances possessing this remarkable property of uranium, and soon found that substances containing thorium behaved in a similar way, and that this behavior depended similarly on an atomic property of thorium. I was now about to undertake a detailed study of the uranium and thorium rays when I discovered a new interesting fact.
I had occasion to examine a certain number of minerals. A few of them showed activity; they were those containing either uranium or thorium. The activity of these minerals would have had nothing astonishing about it, if it had been in proportion to the quantities of uranium or thorium contained in them. But it was not so. Some of these minerals revealed an activity three or four times greater than that of uranium. I verified this surprising fact carefully, and could not doubt its truth. Speculating about the reason for this, there seemed to be but one explanation. There must be, I thought, some unknown substance, very active, in these minerals. My husband agreed with me and I urged that we search at once for this hypothetical substance, thinking that, with joined efforts, a result would be quickly obtained. Neither of us could foresee that in beginning this work we were to enter the path of a new science which we should follow for all our future.
没过多久,我便获得了有趣的结果。实验结果表明,这种射线的放射其实是铀元素原子特性的一种,而与铀盐的物理或者化学性质无关。任何铀盐,如果它所含铀元素越多,放出的射线也就越强。
于是我又想进一步地弄清楚,是否还有其他的元素也能够像铀盐一样放射出相同的射线。不久我便发现,钍元素也具有相同的特性。正当准备对铀与钍的放射性做进一步的研究时,我又发现了一个有意思的情况。
我曾经有用放射性方法对一定数量的矿石进行检验的经历。如果这些矿石能够产生同样的射线的话,那就能够确定它们含有铀或钍。假如这些矿石的放射强度和矿石所含的铀或者钍的成分成正比的话,那也就没什么好惊诧的了。但事实上却不是如此,有些矿石的放射性强度为铀的三四倍。对这一新发现我进行了仔细的查核,最后确定这是毋庸置疑的事实。我认真分析了这一现象,得出了唯一的一种解释:这种矿石中含有一种还不为人知的元素,其放射性远远胜过铀和钍。皮埃尔也赞同我的分析,于是我便希望可以尽快发现这一神秘的元素。我坚信,只要我和皮埃尔共同努力,就一定可以获得成功。然而,随着研究的深入,我们却走上了一条通往新科学的道路,这是我们始料不及的,而且,从此我们就再也没离开过这条新的科学之路。
Of course, I did not expect, even at the beginning, to find a new element in any large quantity, as the minerals had already been analyzed with some precision. At least, I thought there might be as much as one percent of the unknown substance in the minerals. But the more we worked, the clearer we realized that the new radioactive element could exist only in quite minute proportion and that, in consequence, its activity must be very great. Would we have insisted, despite the scarcity of our means of research, if we had known the true proportion of what we were searching for, no one can tell; all that can be said now is that the constant progress of our work held us absorbed in a passionate research, while the difficulties were ever increasing. As a matter of fact, it was only after several years of most arduous labor that we finally succeeded in completely separating the new substance, now known to everybody as radium. Here is, briefly, the story of the search and discovery
As we did not know, at the beginning, any of the chemical properties of the unknown substance, but only that it emits rays, it was by these rays that we had to search. We first undertook the analysis of a pitchblende from St.Joachimsthal. Analyzing this ore by the usual chemical methods, we added an examination of its different parts for radioactivity, by the use of our delicate electrical apparatus. This was the foundation of a new method of chemical analysis which, following our work, has been extended, with the result that a large number of radioactive elements have been discovered.
最初的时候,我并没有指望这种矿石中含有较多数量的新元素,这是因为它早已被人多次研究分析过了。我开始的估计是,这种矿石中的新元素的含量不会超过百分之一。随着研究的不断深入,我们发现其真实的含量要远远地小于百分之一,所以这种新元素的放射性非常强。假如从开始我们就知道这种元素的含量微乎其微的话,那就真不知道自己还能否有决心、有勇气继续下去,因为我们的设备很差且又经费不足。现在回想起来,总是觉得幸亏自己不知道难度会这么大,决心才会很大,虽然真正干起来之后困难重重,但研究成果的不断显现,使我的劲头儿大增,也就不去想那些困难了。经过数年的勤奋努力之后,我们终于将这种新元素分离了出来,它就是今天众人皆知的镭。现在我将我们的研究情况和发现它的情况作一下简略的介绍。
开始进行研究时,我们对这种未知元素的任何化学性质都不了解,仅仅知道它的放射性非常强,于是我们就牢牢抓住这条唯一的线索进行研究。首先就是想办法将铀沥青矿从圣约阿希姆斯塔尔运过来,并对它进行分析研究。除了利用常见的化学分析方法之外,我们还运用我们发明出来的精密计电器,精确地测量这一元素不同部位的放射性。这种方法后来成为一种全新的化学分析法的基础,并且在我们之后,这一分析法被逐渐地进行改进和完善,被许多人采用,他们也因此发现了另外几种放射性元素。
In a few weeks we could be convinced that our prevision had been right, for the activity was concentrating in a regular way. And, in a few months, we could separate from the pitchblende a substance accompanying the bismuth, much more active than uranium, and having well defined chemical properties.In July, 1898, we announced the existence of this new substance, to which I gave the name of polonium, in memory of my native country.
While engaged in this work on polonium, we had also discovered that, accompanying the barium separated from the pitchblende, there was another new element. After several months more of close work we were able to separate this second new substance, which was afterwards shown to be much more important than polonium. In December, 1898, we could announce the discovery of this new and now famous element, to which we gave the name of radium.
However, the greatest part of the material work had yet to be done. We had, tobe sure, discovered the existence of the remarkable new elements, but it was chiefly by their radiant properties that these new substances were distinguished from the bismuth and barium with which they were mixed in minute quantities. We had still to separate them as pure elements. On this work we now started.
We were very poorly equipped with facilities for this purpose. It was necessary to subject large quantities of ore to careful chemical treatment. We had no money, no suitable laboratory, no personal help for our great and difficult undertaking. It was like creating something out of nothing, and if my earlier studying years had once been called by my brother-in-law the heroic period of my life, I can say without exaggeration that the period on which my husband and I now entered was truly the heroic one of our common life.
研究进行了没几个星期,我们便坚信了我们的预测是正确的,因为那个未知新元素的放射性在按照一定的规律增强。又过了几个月后,我们便将一种同铋相混合的元素从铀沥青中分离出来,其放射性远远超过铀元素,这种新元素带有明确的化学性质。1898年7月,我们便对外公布了这种新元素的存在,并为它命名为钋
,以此来怀念我的祖国波兰。
发现钋的同时,我们又发现从铀沥青里分离出的钡盐中含有另外一种未知的元素。通过几个月的紧张工作,我们终于将第二种新元素分离出来了,并且后来才知道它比钋更重要。1898年12月,我们公布了这一发现,并命名这种新元素为镭。
虽然我们确信已经发现了这两种新元素,但仍旧还有许多实际的工作需要去做,因为我们只是凭借放射性的特性从铋盐与钡盐中发现了微乎其微的新元素,现在还需要以纯元素的形式将它们分离出来。我们很快便投入到了这项工作中去。
但是,这项工作却并不容易,因为我们的设备太差,而且还需要大量的原矿进行化学分析。我们既没有钱来购买原矿,也没有实验室去做分析实验,更没有助手相帮。我们要白手起家,一切从头干起。如果像我的姐夫所说的那样,我在巴黎的早期学习时期是我一生中英勇顽强的时期的话,我则敢不夸张地说,我与皮埃尔共同从事这项研究的时期就是我们共同生活中的最伟大、最英勇的时期。
We knew by our experiments that in the treatment of pitchblende at the uranium plant of St. Joachimsthal, radium must have been left in the residues, and, with the permission of the Austrian government, which owned the plant, we succeeded in securing a certain quantity of these residues, then quite valueless, and used them for extraction of radium. How glad I was when the sacks arrived, with the brown dust mixed with pine needles, and when the activity proved even greater than that of the primitive ore! It was a stroke of luck that the residues had not been thrown far away or disposed of in some way, but left in a heap in the pine wood near the plant. Some time later, the Austrian government, on the proposition of the Academy of Science of Vienna, let us have several tons of similar residues at a low price. With this material was prepared all the radium I had in my laboratory up to the date when I received the precious gift from the American women.
The School of Physics could give us no suitable premises, but for lack of anything better, the Director permitted us to use an abandoned shed which had been in service as a dissecting room of the School of Medicine. Its glass roof did not afford complete shelter against rain; the heat was suffocating in summer, and the bitter cold of winter was only a little lessened by the iron stove, except in its immediate vicinity. There was no question of obtaining the needed proper apparatus in common use by chemists. We simply had some old pine-wood tables with furnaces and gas burners. We had to use the adjoining yard for those of our chemical operations that involved producing irritating gases; even then the gas often filled our shed. With this equipment we entered on our exhausting work.
先前的实验使我们相信,在圣约阿希姆斯塔尔炼铀厂被冶炼出来的铀沥青矿废渣中,肯定含有镭元素。该工厂属于奥地利管辖,我们想办法获准能够无偿地得到这些废渣。废渣本身并不值钱,但是如何把它们弄到巴黎却使人大伤脑筋。几经周折,我们成功地将这些混有松针的褐色废渣装在袋子里面,运到我们的实验室门前,那一刻,我高兴得跳了起来。后来,当得知这废渣的放射性竟然比原矿还要强的时候,我们真的是惊诧不已。这些废渣没有经过任何处理,直接堆放在工厂外的松树林里,这真是帮了我们大忙了。后来,应维也纳科学院的要求,奥地利政府又允许我们以极低的价格收购了好几吨这种废渣。我们就是利用这种废渣才从实验室里分离出镭来的。直到后来,美国妇女赠送给我的镭才是从其他矿石中提炼出来的。
皮埃尔的学校并没有为我们提供适合的实验场地,但幸运的是校长允许我们使用以前作为解剖教学用房的一处废弃的木棚。在它的顶上有一个挺大的玻璃天窗,但却有多处裂痕,每当下雨就会漏水。棚里面夏天闷热潮湿,冬天阴冷难耐。虽然可以生炉子取暖,但也仅是火炉旁有那么点热气而已。除此之外,我们还需自己掏钱购置所有必备的仪器装置。木棚里仅有一张破旧的松木桌与几个炉台、汽灯。当做化学实验时,经常会产生一种刺激性很强的有毒气体,因此我们只好把这种实验移到院子里去做,就是这样,棚内仍旧有毒气弥漫。在如此恶劣的条件之下,我们拼命地做着实验。
Yet it was in this miserable old shed that we passed the best and happiest years of our life, devoting our entire days to our work. Often I had to prepare our lunch in the shed, so as not to interrupt some particularly important operation. Sometimes I had to spend a whole day mixing a boiling mass with a heavy iron rod nearly as large as myself. I would be broken with fatigue at the day's end. Other days, on the contrary, the work would be a most minute and delicate fractional crystallization, in the effort to concentrate the radium. I was then annoyed by the floating dust of iron and coal from which I could not protect my precious products. But I shall never be able to express the joy of the untroubled quietness of this atmosphere of research and the excitement of actual progress with the confident hope of still better results. The feeling of discouragement that sometimes came after some unsuccessful toil did not last long and gave way to renewed activity. We had happy moments devoted to a quiet discussion of our work, walking around our shed.
One of our joys was to go into our workroom at night; we then perceived on all sides the feebly luminous silhouettes of the bottles or capsules containing our products. It was really a lovely sight and one always new to us. The glowing tubes looked like faint, fairy lights.
虽然如此,我们却认为在这个极其简陋的木棚中度过的时光,是我们一生当中最美好最快乐的。为了不中断一些重要的实验,我经常就在木棚里随便做点吃的当做我们的午餐。有的时候,我不得不一整天都用一根同我身体差不多重的大铁棒去对沸腾着的沥青铀矿进行搅动。等到傍晚时分,工作结束的时候,我就会像散了架似的,连话都不想说了。还有的时候,我又要进行极其精密的结晶、分离工作,这时我又会因为室内四处飘浮着的灰尘,影响到浓缩镭的程序,使我没有办法保护好分离出的“宝贝”而苦恼。唯一令我觉得满意的是,没有人会来打扰,我们可以安静地进行我们的实验。当实验进行得很顺利,可能获得令人满意的结果时,我们就会欢欣鼓舞,激动之情简直无以言表。但有的时候,我们干了很久却仍然见不到成效,这时沮丧失望的心情就会困扰我们。不过,这种情况不会持续太久,不多时我们就会又去考虑新的设想和工作了。工作之余,我俩便会一边在木棚中踱来踱去,一边对我们的实验进行冷静的讨论,这个时候,我们的快乐也是难以言表的。
还有一件令我们感到快乐的事情,那就是,夜晚跑到木棚里去。这时我们能够看到那被我们提炼、分离出来的宝贝正在玻璃瓶或者玻璃管里向四周散发出淡淡的光芒,真是美丽极了,令我们感到既新奇又激动,那闪烁着光彩的宝贝,宛如神话中的神灯。
Thus the months passed, and our efforts, hardly interrupted by short vacations, brought forth more and more complete evidence. Our faith grew ever stronger, and our work being more and more known, we found means to get new quantities of raw material and to carry on some of our crude processes in a factory, allowing me to give more time to the delicate finishing treatment.
At this stage I devoted myself especially to the purification of the radium, my husband being absorbed by the study of the physical properties of the rays emitted by the new substances. It was only after treating one ton of pitchblende residues that I could get definite results. Indeed we know today that even in the best minerals there are not more than a few decigrammes of radium in a ton of raw material.
At last the time came when the isolated substances showed all the characters of a pure chemical body. This body, the radium, gives a characteristic spectrum, and I was able to determine for it an atomic weight much higher than that of the barium. This was achieved in 1902. I then possessed one decigramme of very pure radium chloride. It had taken me almost four years to produce the kind of evidence which chemical science demands, that radium is truly a new element. One year would probably have been enough for the same purpose, if reasonable means had been at my disposal. The demonstration that cost so much effort was the basis of the new science of radioactivity.
In later years I was able to prepare several decigrammes of pure radium salt, to make a more accurate determination of the atomic weight and even to isolate the pure radium metal. However, 1902 was the year in which the existence and character of radium were definitely established
几个月里,除了短暂的假期以外,我们从没有中断过实验研究。研究结果越来越明显地表明,我们正一步一步地走向成功,所以,我们的信心也就越来越坚定了。这时,我们的研究工作也逐渐受到了人们的关注。因此我们不但可以购买到更多的废渣,还可以在工厂里完成初步的提炼,这就极大地方便了我们,令我们有更多的时间去进行精确的分离工作。
到了这个阶段,我就专门从事纯净镭的提炼工作,而皮埃尔则专心对新元素散发出的射线的物理性质进行研究。当我们处理完一吨铀沥青矿渣之后,得出了一个确定的结论:在1吨含镭最丰富的原矿中,镭的含量也不足几分克。
1902年,我们提炼出了一分克特别纯净的氯化镭。这些氯化镭显示出了元素所应具有的性质,而且具有不同于其他元素的特别光谱。我们还确定了它的原子量,其值远远大于钡。就这样,我们得到了确定镭为一种独立元素的全部必要证据。这一工作耗时四年,但是如果资金充足、设备齐全的话,也许只需一年我们就能够完成了。我们呕心沥血求得的结果,为放射性这门新的学科奠定了基础。
几年后,我准备了几分克绝对纯净的镭盐,更加精确地测定出了它的原子量,甚至还提炼出了纯粹的金属镭元素本身。不过,确定镭的存在及其性质的年份仍旧是1902年。
We had been able to live for several years entirely engrossed in the work of research, but gradually circumstances changed. In 1900 my husband was offered a professorship in the University of Geneva, but almost simultaneously he obtained a position of assistant professor at the Sorbonne, and I was made professor at the Normal Superior School for young girls at Sevres. So we remained in Paris.
I became much interested in my work in the Normal School, and endeavored to develop more fully the practical laboratory exercises of the pupils. These pupils were girls of about twenty years who had entered the school after severe examination and had still to work very seriously to meet the requirements that would enable them to be named professors in the lycees. All these young women worked with great eagerness, and it was a pleasure for me to direct their studies in physics.
But a growing notoriety, because of the announcement of our discoveries, began to trouble our quiet work in the laboratory, and, little by little, life became more difficult. In 1903 I finished my doctor's thesis and obtained the degree. At the end of the same year the Nobel prize was awarded jointly to Becquerel, my husband and me for the discovery of radioactivity and new radioactive elements. This event greatly increased the publicity of our work. For some time there was no more peace. Visitors and demands for lectures and articles interrupted every day.
这几年来,我们夫妇两人倾注全部心血进行研究,同时,我们的社会地位也产生了变化。在1900年,日内瓦大学想要聘任皮埃尔为教授,也就在这个时候,他在巴黎大学得到了一个副教授的职位,而我也出任于一所女子高等师范学校的教授,学校位于塞弗尔。因此我们没有去日内瓦,而是留在了巴黎。
在女子高等师范学校,我工作得非常开心,我尽量让学生们到实验室去实际操作,以便使她们的动手能力得到提高。这所学校里全部是20岁左右的女生,都是通过严格的考试才被录取的,在入学之后,她们仍然努力地学习才能通过考试,成为中学的老师。这个学校里的每个学生都勤奋好学,作为老师,我自然也愿意尽自己的全力去教好她们的物理。
但是,自从这一发现公布之日起,我们的知名度便日渐高涨了,以致影响到实验室原有的宁静,我们的研究工作逐渐受到了干扰。1903年,我完成了我的博士论文,并且获得了博士学位。在这一年的年末,贝克莱尔、皮埃尔和我因为发现了放射性与放射性元素而共同获得了诺贝尔物理学奖。在那之后,我们的成就被报纸杂志大加颂扬,使我们在好长一段时间内都没法安心工作,每天登门造访的人都不断,有的请我们去演讲,有的向我们约稿子。
The award of the Nobel prize was a great honor. It is also known that the material means provided by this prize was much greater than is usual in prizes for science. This was a great help in the continuation of our researches. Unhappily, we were overtired and had a succession of failures of health for the one or the other of us, so that it was not until 1905 that we were able to go to Stockholm, where my husband gave his Nobel lecture and where we were well received.
The fatigue resulting from the effort exceeding our forces, imposed by the unsatisfactory conditions of our labor, was augmented by the invasion of publicity. The overturn of our voluntary isolation was a cause of real suffering for us and had all the effect of disaster. It was serious trouble brought into the organization of our life, and I have already explained how indispensable was our freedom from external distraction, in order to maintain our family life and our scientific activity. Of course, people who contribute to that kind of trouble generally mean it kindly. It is only that they do not realize the conditions of the problem.
In 1904 our second daughter, Eve Denise, came to us. I had, of course, to interrupt my work in the laboratory for a while. In the same year, because of the awarding of the Nobel prize and the general public recognition, a new chair of physics was created in Sorbonne, and my husband was named as its occupant. At the same time I was named chief of work in the laboratory that was to be created for him. But in reality the laboratory was not constructed then, and only a few rooms taken from other uses were available to us.
In 1906 just as we were definitely giving up the old shed laboratory where we had been so happy, there came the dreadful catastrophe which took my husband away from me and left me alone to bring up our children and, at the same time, to continue our work of research.
获得诺贝尔奖是一项很大的荣誉,而且,这笔奖金数额要比其他奖金大很多,这对我们今后的研究工作是大有裨益的。可惜的是,此刻我们已是精疲力竭,两个人中经常有一个体力不支,所以当年我们都没能前往斯德哥尔摩领奖和发表演说。直到1905年,我们才到了那里,由皮埃尔作了诺贝尔奖的获奖感言。在那里,我们受到了瑞典人民的热情接待。
以前,极其恶劣的工作条件已经导致我们的身心疲惫。现在,获奖后报纸杂志的大加颂扬导致探访者不断,更使我们疲于应付。我们所喜欢的平静、有规律的生活被彻底破坏了,这给我们的工作和生活带来了很大的影响。我前面已经说过,必须在不受外界任何干扰的情况下,我们才能继续正常的家庭生活与科学研究工作。前来拜访的人虽说用心很好,但却不知道这样做会给我们带来什么样的后果。
1904年,我们的二女儿艾娃·德尼斯出生了,我不得不暂时停止了实验研究。就在这一年,因为荣获诺贝尔奖,再加上社会方面的赞扬,巴黎大学聘任皮埃尔担任他们新开设的一个讲座的教授,并且还为他创办了一个实验室,任命我为实验室主任。实际上这个实验室并不是新建的,只是把原先空置的房间收拾出来让我们使用而已。
1906年,正当我们准备告别那已使用多年并带给我们无限欢乐的木棚时,一场可怕的灾难降临了。这场灾难夺走了我的皮埃尔,只留下我一个人抚养孩子并继续我俩的事业。
It is impossible for me to express the profoundness and importance of the crisis brought into my life by the loss of the one who had been my closest companion and best friend. Crushed by the blow, I did not feel able to face the future. I could not forget, however, what my husband used sometimes to say, that, even deprived of him, I ought to continue my work.
The death of my husband, coming immediately after the general knowledge of the discoveries with which his name is associated, was felt by the public, and especially by the scientific circles, to be a national misfortune.It was largely under the influence of this emotion that the Faculty of Sciences of Paris decided to offer me the chair, as professor, which my husband had occupied only one year and a half in the Sorbonne. It was an exceptional decision, as up to then no woman had held such a position. The University by doing this offered me a precious mark of esteem and gave me opportunity to pursue the researches which otherwise might have had to be abandoned. I had not expected a gift of this kind; I never had any other ambition than to be able to work freely for science. The honor that now came to me was deeply painful under the cruel circumstances of its coming. Besides I wondered whether I would be able to face such a grave responsibility. After much hesitation, I decided that I ought at least to try to meet the task, and so I began in 1906 my teaching in the Sorbonne, as assistant professor, and two years later I was named titular professor.
这场灾难使我失去了人生旅途上最亲密的伴侣与最要好的朋友,我真的无法用言语来表述它给我带来的严重影响。这沉重的打击使我的精神处于崩溃状态,感觉自己完全无法面对未来,但是,皮埃尔的那句话却始终萦绕在我心中,令我不能忘怀:“即使我不在了,你也必须坚持工作下去。”
皮埃尔去世的时候正是他的名字与成就为公众所认知的时期,所以在社会上,特别是在科学界,大家都很惋惜,普遍认为他的去世是国家的巨大损失。因此,巴黎科学教育界决定由我继承皮埃尔任职一年半的讲座教授的席位。这可以说是破例的决定,因为在过去,没有一个妇女担任过这种职务。巴黎大学的这一决定,确实让我感到无上的荣耀,使我受到激励,得以继续进行原来的研究,否则的话,我可能就不得不放弃了。我本来并没有期盼获得这项殊荣,因为除了一心想为科学事业奋斗终生之外,我没有任何的野心与奢望。这种情况下,授予我这一职务,更使我悲从中来。我担心自己不能承担起这一重任。几经思考,我决定试一试看。于是,从1906年秋天开始,我以副教授的身份开始在巴黎大学授课。两年后,我被聘为教授。
In my new situation the difficulties of my life were considerably augmented, as I alone had now to carry the burden formerly weighing on my husband and me together. The cares of my young children required close vigilance; in this, my husband's father, who continued to live with us, willingly took his share. He was happy to be occupied with the little girls, whose company was his chief consolation after his son's death. By his effort and mine, the children had a bright home, even if we lived with our inner grief, which they were too young to realize. The strong desire of my fatherin-law being to live in the country, we took a house with a garden in Sceaux, a suburb of Paris, from which I could reach the city in half an hour.
This country life had great advantages, not only for my father-in-law, who enjoyed his new surroundings, and especially his garden, but also for my girls, who had the benefit of walks in the open country. But they were more separated from me, and it became necessary to have a governess for them. This position was filled first by one of my cousins, and then by a devoted woman who had already brought up the daughter of one of my sisters. Both of them were Polish, and in this way my daughters learned my native tongue. From time to time, some one of my Polish family came to see me in my grief, and we managed to meet in vacation time, at the seashore in France, and once in the mountains of Poland.
In 1910 we suffered the loss of my very dear father-in-law, after a long illness, which brought me many sorrowful days. I used to spend at his bedside as much time as I could, listening to his remembrances of passed years. His death affected deeply my elder daughter, who, at twelve, knew the value of the cheerful hours spent in his company.
自从皮埃尔离开之后,我生活上的困难就不可避免地大大增加了。以前由我和皮埃尔共同承担的事情,现在只能由我独自承担了。我不得不亲自抚养两个孩子。皮埃尔的父亲仍然和我们共同居住,并且主动提出和我共同承担家庭的重任。他非常高兴能够帮着照料两个孙女。失去儿子之后,两个孙女成了他唯一的慰藉与欢乐。在他和我的共同努力下,孩子们才得以享受到家庭的幸福。我们决不将心中的隐痛在孩子们面前流露出来,因为她们年岁太小,不该让她们过早地品尝人生的痛苦。皮埃尔的父亲喜欢乡村生活,所以我们就在苏城租了一座带花园的屋子,它到巴黎城里只要半个小时。
生活在乡间确实有很多好处,不仅我的公公从那里的环境,特别是那个花园中获得了无限的享受,两个女儿也得以在经常去空旷的田野间玩耍的过程中受益。因为我白天要上班,经常无法照顾女儿,所以只好请了一个保姆。第一个保姆是我的一个表亲,后来又换成了一个很厚道的女子,她曾带大过我一个姐姐的女儿。两位保姆都是波兰人,因此我的两个女儿都会讲波兰话。我的波兰亲属们也不时地来看望我、安慰我。我们一般都是在假期设法在法国海滨相聚,有一次还在波兰山区待了一段日子。
我亲爱的公公久病之后在1910年去世了,这令我伤心悲痛了好长一段时间。在他卧床不起期间,我尽可能地抽出时间在病床边陪护他,听他讲述往事。对于爷爷的逝世,我的大女儿感到尤为悲痛,当时她已经12岁了,已经懂得爷爷的关爱是多么的重要了,她没有办法忘记往日祖孙俩相处的幸福时光。
There were few resources for the education of my daughters in Sceaux. The youngest one, a small child, needed principally a hygienic life, outdoor walks and quite elementary schooling. She had already shown a vivid intelligence and an unusual disposition for music. Her elder sister resembled her father in the form of her intelligence. She was not quick, but one could already see that she had a gift of reasoning power and that she would like science. She had some training in a private school in Paris, but I had not wanted to keep her in a lycee, as I have always found the class hours in these schools too long for the health of the children.
My view is that in the education of children the requirement of their growth and physical evolution should be respected, and that some time should be left for their artistic culture. In most schools, as they exist today, the time spent in various reading and writing exercises is too great, and the study required to be done at home too much. I also find these shools lacking, in general, in practical exercises to accompany the scientific studies
With a few friends in the university circle who shared these views, we organized, therefore, a cooperative group for the education of our children, each of us taking charge of the teaching of a particular subject to all of the young people. We were all very busy with other things, and the children varied in age. Nevertheless, the little experiment thus made was very interesting. With a small number of classes we yet succeeded in reuniting the scientific and literary elements of a desirable culture. The courses in science were accompanied by practical exercises in which the children took great interest.
苏城没有太好的学校。当时我的小女儿年岁尚小,需要的是于身心健康有利的生活环境,她需要户外游戏、散步、初步的小学教育等。活泼、聪颖的个性特点已经在她的性格中显现,对于音乐,她更是非比寻常地喜爱。她的姐姐有点像她父亲,不太活泼,反应也比较迟钝,但是理解问题和推论的能力却很强,似乎适合搞科学研究。她在巴黎的一所私人学校上过学,但我却并不想让她进中学念书,因为我总觉得中学的课程太多、课时太长,不利于青少年的成长发育。
关于孩子的教育,我认为应该顺应其身心健康发育、成长的需要。除此之外,还应该尽可能多地让孩子们学习文艺知识。但是,现在大多数的学校,都将过多的时间花费在了读写练习上,并且还有大量的家庭作业,令学生喘不过气来。而且,这类学校所设置的大部分理科课程都和实践相脱节。
大学的圈子中有一些朋友和我持同样的观点,所以我们便成立了一个互助合作小组,共同对我们的子女进行一种新式的教育。我们每人各自负责一门指定的课程。即便大家工作都很忙,并且孩子们的年龄大小不一,但是我们的热情丝毫不减,对这项教育改革实验保持着很浓的兴趣。通过不多的课时,我们将理科课程和文科课程有机地结合起来,取得了很好的效果;并且所有理科课程都配有实验,孩子们对此充满了兴趣。
This arrangement, which lasted two years, proved to be very beneficial for most of the children; it was certainly so for my elder daughter. Following this preparation, she was able to enter a higher class in one of the colleges of Paris, and had no difficulty in passing her bachelor's examination before the usual age,after which she continued her scientific studies in the Sorbonne. My second daughter, although not benefiting by a similar arrangement for her earlier studies,at first followed the classes of a college only partially, and later completely. She showed herself a good pupil, doing satisfactory work in all directions.
I wanted very much to assure for my children a rational physical education. Next to outdoor walks, I attach a great importance to gymnastics and sports. This side of a girl's education is still rather neglected in France. I took care that my children did gymnastics regularly. I was also careful to have them spend vacations either in the mountains or at the seashore. They can canoe and swim very well and are not afraid of a long walk or a bicycle ride.
But of course the care of my children's education was only a part of my duties, my professional occupations taking most of my time. I have been frequently questioned, especially by women, how I could reconcile family life with a scientific career. Well, it has not been easy; it required a great deal of decision and of selfsacrifice. However, the family bond has been preserved between me and my now grown-up daughters, and life is made brighter by the mutual affection and understanding in our home, where I could not suffer a harsh word or selfish behavior
通过我们两年的努力,大多数孩子都有所收获,特别是我的艾莱娜。通过这种学习之后,她竟然能够插入巴黎一所中学的高年级班,并且没有遇到太大困难便通过了各门功课的考试,在比一般学生小的年纪便进入了巴黎大学,学习理科专业。小女儿艾娃没有接受我们这种新模式的教育,但是后来也进了一所学院。一开始,她只是选修部分课程,后来才学习全部课程,她是一个好学生,在各方面的表现都不错。
我对两个孩子的体育锻炼也很重视,除了户外散步以外,我认为体操和运动也很重要。在法国,对女孩子在这些方面的教育往往被忽视。我要求两个女儿每天都要做柔软体操,还经常带她们去山里或者海边度假。她们两个游泳和划船的技术都是一流的,对远足或者骑车远游更是无所畏惧。
当然,对女儿的教育只是我职责的一部分而已,我仍将大部分的时间用于科学研究。有些人,尤其是女人,经常会问我是怎样把这两者处理得如此好的。是的,这并不是容易做到的事,它需要有坚忍不拔的精神,而且还要作出一定的牺牲。我和两个已经长大成人的女儿一直感情很好,相处愉快。在我们的家里,相互体谅和彼此尊重使我们的生活充满了阳光,我们母女之间从来没有说过一句伤人的话,也没有做过一件自私自利的事。
In 1906, when I succeeded my husband at the Sorbonne, I had only a provisional laboratory with little space and most limited equipment. A few scientists and students had already been admitted to work there with my husband and me. With their help, I was able to continue the course of research with good success.
In 1907, I received a precious mark of sympathy from Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who donated to my laboratory an annual income for research fellowships which enabled some advanced students or scientists to devote their whole time to investigation. Such foundations are very encouraging to those whose inclinations and talents are such as to warrant their entire devotion to research work. They ought to be multiplied in the interest of science.
As for myself, I had to devote again a great deal of time to the preparation of several decigrammes of very pure radium chloride. With this I achieved, in 1907, a new determination of the atomic weight of radium, and in 1910 I was able to isolate the metal. The operation, an extremely delicate one, was performed with the assistance of a distinguished chemist belonging to the laboratory staff. It has never been repeated since that time, because it involves a serious danger of loss of radium, which can be avoided only with utmost care. So I saw at last the mysterious white metal, but could not keep it in this state, for it was required for further experiments.
As for the polonium, I have not been able to isolate it, its quantity in the mineral being even much less than the quantity of radium. However, very concentrated prolonium has been prepared in my laboratory, and important experiments have been performed with this substance, concerning especially the production of helium by radiation of polonium.
我在1906年,接替皮埃尔到巴黎大学任教的时候,只有一间设备短缺而又狭小的临时实验室可以用来工作。皮埃尔在世时,一些科学家和学生已经在那里同他一起工作了,我接任后,在他们的鼎力相助下,得以继续进行研究,并且获得了满意的成果。
1907年,我得到安德鲁·卡内基先生的同情和赞助,他赠给我的实验室一笔奖学金,使一些成绩卓著的科学家和学生能够全身心致力于研究。这种帮助很有价值,使那些有志于科学研究且具备研究能力的研究者能够实现自己的心愿,不至于中断研究。为了科研事业,社会上的有识之士应该尽可能多地设置这种奖学金。
当时,我的奋斗目标是尽自己所能将几分克极其纯净的氯化镭提炼出来。1907年,我完成了对镭元素的新的原子量的测量,到1910年,我最终提炼出了纯净的金属镭。这一提炼和测定的过程很精密,需要特别地细心。我是在一位著名的化学家的鼎力相助之下,才获得了成功的。在那之后,我没有再次重复这一实验,因为这一实验过程有使镭元素丧失的可能,除非极其小心极其谨慎地操作。这次成功终于使我见到了这一神奇而又美妙的白色金属镭。但是因为许多实验在等着使用它,所以我不能将它一直在这种美妙的观赏状态下保存。
而我却一直未能将钋元素提炼、分离出来。这是因为在原矿中它比镭的含量还要少。不过,在我的实验室里存有一些钋含量很丰富的物质,我们能够用它来做各种重要的实验。在这之中,尤以钋放射时所产生的氦气对实验最为重要。
I had to devote special care to the improvement of the measuring methods in the laboratory. I have told how important precise measurements were in the discovery of radium. It is still to be hoped that efficient methods of quantitative determination may lead to new discoveries.
I devised a very satisfactory method for determining the quantity of radium by the means of a radioactive gas produced by it and called "emanation." This method, frequently used in my laboratory, permits of the measurement of very small quantities of radium (less than a thousandth of a milligramme), with a fair precision. More important quantities are often measured by their penetrating radiation, named Gamma-rays. For this we also possess in my laboratory a suitable equipment. It is easier and more satisfactory to measure the radium by the emitted rays, than to weigh it in a balance. However, these measurements require the disposition of reliable standards. So the question of a radium standard had to be taken into careful consideration.
The measurements of radium had to be established on a solid basis, for the benefit of laboratories and scientific research, which, of course, is in itsel an important reason, and moreover, the growing medical utilization of this substance made it necessary to control the relative purity of commercially produced radium.
我还专门花费了一番心思对实验室里的测量方法做了不错的改造。我说过,精密的测量在镭的发现过程中起了极其重要的作用。并且,我希望有效的含量测定方法能够带来新的发现。
我想出了一个很有效的方法,那就是用镭产生的镭射气来对镭的数量进行测量。通过多次在我的实验室里使用这一方法,我准确地测出了一毫克千分之一左右的镭,这是极其微量的。那些数量较多的,我们就运用镭射线中穿透力较强的γ射线进行测量。这样的设备在我的实验室中就有。利用射线测量镭的数量的这种方法比用天平测量要更加快速、精确。但是,要想采用这种新的度量方法,必须先要有一个经过缜密考虑并且确定后的新标准。
要想对实验与科学研究有所帮助,对镭的测量方法就必须建立在可靠的基础之上。除了其内部的重要原因之外,还因为镭在现代医学中的应用日渐增长,控制商业生产镭的相对纯度成为必须解决的大事。
The first experiments on the biological properties of radium were successfully made in France with samples from our laboratory, while my husband was living. The results were, at once, encouraging, so that the new branch of medical science, called radiumtherapy (in France, Curietherapy), developed rapidly, first in France and later in other countries. To supply the radium wanted for this purpose, a radiumproducing industry was established. The first plant was created in France and worked very successfully, but afterwards manufactures were founded in other countries, the most important of which are now in America, where great quantities of radiumore , named "carnotite," are available. The radiumtherapy and the radium production developed conjointly, and the results were more and more important, for the treatment of several diseases, and particularly of cancer. As a consequence of this, several institutes have been founded, in the large cities, for the application of the new therapy. Some of these institutes own several grammes of radium, the commercial price of the gramme being now about $70,000, the cost of production depending on the very small proportion of radium in the ore.
It may be easily understood how deeply I appreciated the privilege of realizing that our discovery had become a benefit to mankind, not only through its great scientific importance, but also by its power of efficient action against human suffering and terrible disease. This was indeed a splendid reward for our years of hard toil.
The success of the therapy depends, of course, on the precise knowledge of the quantity of radium which is used, so that the measurements of radium are as important for industry and for medicine as for physicochemical research.
在法国曾经做过实验,就镭对生物所造成的各种影响进行了初步研究,并且取得了很好的效果。实验中使用的样本就是由我的实验室所提供的。那个时候,皮埃尔还没有离去,实验的结果使大家兴奋不已,并且因此,被法国人民称为“居里疗法”的镭疗法也作为一个崭新的医疗分支在法国首先诞生了,随后在其他国家也普遍地兴盛起来。由于对于镭的需求日渐增多,制镭工业也就相应地取得了发展。第一家工厂出现在法国,并且运营得很成功。随后,其他国家的制镭工厂也相继建立了起来,目前,最大的一家在美国,这是因为美国具有富含镭的钒钾铀矿,对镭进行提炼相对来说比较容易。随着制镭工业取得发展,镭治疗技术也得到了相应的提高。这一治疗方法对于某些疾病来说具有特殊的疗效,特别是在癌症治疗方面。出于这个原因,在很多大的城市里,一些专门凭借这种方法治病的医院应运而生,有的医院里还存有数克的镭。镭的市场售价现在已经达到每克七万美元,这是因为镭在原矿中的含量微乎其微,导致提炼的成本很高。
我们当初没有料到这一发现会对社会有如此大的用处,不仅是科学上的重大成就,而且能够治疗可怕的疾病,减轻人们的痛苦。读者们肯定能够体会到这时候我欣慰、激动的心情。这是对我同皮埃尔多年来辛苦拼搏的回报,这种回报是无可比拟的。
如果想令镭治疗取得成功,在用量上就必须保证准确无误。所以,不管是在工业上、医药上还是科研上,镭的度量都是至关重要的。
Considering all these needs, a commission of scientific men of different countries was formed who agreed to take as a base an international standard, formed of a carefully weighed quantity of pure radium salt. Secondary standards were then to be prepared for each country, and compared to the basic standard by means of their radiation. I was appointed to prepare the primary standard.
This was a very delicate operation, as the weight of the standard sample, quite small (about 21 milligrammes of chloride), had to be determined with great precision. I performed the preparation in 1911. The standard is a thin glass tube, of a few centimeters in length, containing the pure salt which was used for the determination of atomic weight. It was accepted by the Commission and is deposited in the International Bureau of Weights and Measures at Sevres, near Paris. Several secondary standards, compared with the primary one, have been put into service by the Commission. In France the control of radium tubes, by the measurement of their radiation, takes place in my laboratory, where any one may bring the radium to be tested; in the United States this is done in the Bureau of Standards.
针对这种情况,由各国科学家所组成的委员会的全体成员,集体同意制定一个国际标准来共同遵循。这一标准的制定方法是,先使用极其精确的方法对若干极纯净的镭盐进行测定,把它作为基本标准,然后再将若干纯净的镭盐的放射性同基本标准进行对比,作为副标准,以便各国进行使用。该委员会指命我来负责制定这个基本标准。
这是一项极其精密细致的工作,绝对不允许有半点马虎,因为氯化镭大约只有二十一毫克,重量极轻,所以称量时必须非常准确。1911年,我将这个基本标准制作成功。这个基本标准是一个数厘米长的玻璃管,里面装有曾经测定过镭原子量的纯净镭盐,通过委员会的批准之后,它被存放在离巴黎不远的塞弗尔国际度量衡标准局。根据这个基本标准,委员会还制备了几个副标准,已经投入使用。在法国各地,全部存有镭的玻璃管,都是由我的实验室来完成鉴定的。鉴定的方法就是对它们的辐射强度进行测量。无论任何人,都可以带上自己的镭到我们这里测量、鉴定。在美国,这种事是标准局负责的。
Near the end of the year 1910, I was proposed for the decoration of the Legion of Honor. A similar proposal was made earlier in favor of my husband, who, however, being opposed to all honorary distinctions, did not accept the nomination. As my husband and I were too united in all things for me to act differently from him in this matter, I did not accept the decoration, in spite of the insistence of the Ministry. At that time also, several colleagues persuaded me to be a candidate for election to the Academy of Sciences, of Paris, of which my husband was a member during the last months of his life. I hesitated very much, as such a candidacy requires, by custom, a great number of personal visits to Academy members. However, I consented to offer myself a candidate, because of the advantages an election would have for my laboratory. My candidacy provoked a vivid public interest, especially because it involved the question of the admission of women to the Academy. Many of the Academicians were opposed to this in principle, and when the scrutiny was made, I had a few votes less than was necessary. I do not ever wish to renew my candidacy, because of my strong distaste for the personal solicitation required. I believe that all such elections should be based wholly on a spontaneous decision, without any personal efforts involved, as was the case for several Academies and Societies which made me a member without any demand or initiative on my part.
到了1910年,我获得法国荣誉骑士勋章提名。以前皮埃尔也受到过同样的提名,但是他反对接受一切荣誉,就没有接受。我的行为准则和皮埃尔的全部一致,因此就这件事而言我也不想使皮埃尔的意愿受到违背,虽然内政部多次对我进行劝诫,但我仍然拒不接受这一授勋。与此同时,很多同事劝说我就成为巴黎科学院院士进行申请,皮埃尔在去世前的几个月被选为院士,所以我对要不要申请成为院士,颇为犹豫,难作决定。按照科学院的规定,如果想要申请成为院士,就必须要挨个地拜访巴黎的所有院士,这令我感到很不情愿;但如果能够被成功地选为院士,我的实验室就能够从中获益。这么一想,我就下定决心参加院士的竞选。社会公众对我的竞选给予了热切关注,就科学院是否应该对女院士进行接纳这一议题,大家展开了激烈的辩论,一些老院士坚决反对接纳女性。到最后,投票结束后显示,我以数票之差落选。在这之后,我就再也不去申请了,因为挨个地求人帮忙是最令我厌恶和头疼的。我想,这种选举应该以申请人的业绩为标准进行衡量,而不应该自己奔走,私下交易。例如一些协会和学会,在我自己并没有提出任何申请的情况下,就主动将我吸纳为会员了。
As a result of all the cares devolving on me, I fell seriously ill at the end of 1911, when, for the second time, I received, this time alone, the award of the Nobel prize. This was a very exceptional honor, a high recognition of the discovery of the new elements and of the preparation of pure radium. Suffering though I was, I went to Stockholm to receive the prize. The journey was extremely painful for me. I was accompanied by my eldest sister and my young daughter Irene. The ceremony of delivery of the Nobel prizes is very impressive, having the features of a national solemnity. A most generous reception was accorded me, specially by the women of Sweden. This was a great comfort to me, but I was suffering so much that when I returned I had to stay in bed for several months. This grave illness, as well as the necessities of my children's education, obliged me to move my home from Sceaux to Paris.
During the year 1912 I had the opportunity of collaborating in the creation of a laboratory of radium at Warsaw. This laboratory was founded by the Scientific Society of Warsaw which offered me its direction. I could not leave France to go back to my native country, but I willingly agreed to occupy myself with the organization of the studies in the new laboratory. In 1913, having improved my health, I was able to attend an inauguration fête in Warsaw, where a touching reception was given, leaving me an unforgettable memory of national sentiment which succeeded in creating useful work under particularly difficult political conditions
1911年年底,种种费心劳神的事情汇集到一起,使我心力交瘁,终于病倒了,并且病得很重。但就是这个时候,诺贝尔奖再一次降临到了我的头上,并且是单独授予我一个人的。对于我而言,这确实是一个极大的殊荣,特别是对我发现元素和提炼出镭的极大褒奖。当时,我虽然病着,但仍旧决定亲自到斯德哥尔摩去领奖。我的大姐和大女儿艾莱娜陪同我前往。颁奖仪式十分隆重,同接待国家元首的气派不相上下,令我激动不已。在斯德哥尔摩我受到了热烈的欢迎,特别是瑞典妇女界,她们的热情更是令人感动。由于大病未愈,加上来去的旅途劳顿,待回到法国的时候,我竟一连卧床数月。因为病情严重,并且考虑到两个女儿的教育问题,我们不得不从苏城搬到巴黎市内定居了。
1912年,我同几个人合作,在华沙建立了一个镭实验室。这个实验室下属于华沙科学院,我被聘为主任,参与对其的指导。当时,我身体状况不好,没有离开法国返回波兰,但我非常愿意竭尽自己所能对该实验室的研究工作进行指导。到了1913年,当我的身体状况略有好转之后,我便立即返回波兰参加这个实验室成立的纪念典礼。祖国人民对我的热烈欢迎使我激动不已。我深刻地体会到,波兰人民在那么艰难的政治条件下还能以如此高昂的爱国主义热情,开创有利于祖国建设的事业,真的是很了不起。祖国人民的这种伟大精神令我永远难忘。
While still only partially recovered from my illness, I renewed my efforts for the construction of a suitable laboratory in Paris. Finally it was arranged for, and work began in 1912. The Pasteur Institute wished to be associated with this laboratory, and, in accord with the University, it was decided to create an Institute of Radium, with two laboratories, one of physics and one of biology, the first to be devoted to studies of the physical and chemical properties of the radioactive elements, the second to the study of their biological and medical applications. But, because of the lack of financial means, the construction work proceeded very slowly, and was not yet entirely finished when the war broke out in 1914
当我的疾病只是部分好转时,我就忍不住四处奔走,努力想在巴黎筹建一个更加合适的实验室了。通过我的一系列努力,最后终于见出了成果,我理想中的实验室在1912年破土动工了。巴斯德研究院愿意同新创建的实验室进行合作,经巴黎大学同意,新成立了一个镭研究所,其中包括两个实验室,一个物理实验室,专门对放射性元素的物理和化学特性进行研究;另一个生物实验室,专门对放射性在生物与医学上的应用进行研究。但是,由于经费不足,工程进行得很慢,1914年,世界大战爆发时,实验室还没有竣工。