The Disappearing Spoon Chapter 12

Chapter 12:Political Elements
Summary:
Chapter 12 of the book is all about how elements tie in with politics. Kean first starts by talking about Marie Sklodowska a.k.a. Mary Curie. Marie Sklodowska was a chemist born in the period of history where women were not yet respected and taken seriously in science. Marie Sklodowska was able to receive her PhD after all her determination to pursue her science career. Soon after, Marie Sklodowska married a man named Pierre Curie. This married couple, Mary and Pierre Curie began working together to find radioactive elements. By observing the periodic table, Marie and Pierre Curie were able to discover the radioactivity in the elements; thus, causing them to win a Nobel Prize in physics. After they want their first Nobel Prize, Marie and Pierre together both began experimenting with uranium. Through this, they discovered two new elements, polonium and radium. Unfortunately, Pierre Curie was ran over by a carriage in the street and died. Because Pierre died, only Marie Curie received another Nobel Prize. Marie ended up dying from radiation poisoning.

 In addition, Kean continues by talking about Irene Joliet-Curie who was daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie. Irene and her husband both worked on finding a way to control the radioactive elements. Irene later died of leukemia. Gyorgy Hevesy and how he discovered a elemental tracers and element 72 was then discussed by the author. Kean then shifts his focus to Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner. Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn both put work into discovering element 91; however, it was really unfair that only Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel prize and not Lise Meitner who equally contributed in discovering the element.
Reflection:
This chapter was very informational, for it talked about many discoveries made by various people like Marie Curie. Before reading this chapter, I wasn't aware that polonium and radium were discovered by the Curies, Marie Curie and Pierre Curie. It was kind of disappointing reading about how Marie struggled to get taken seriously just because she was a woman. Not only this, but it was also very upsetting to read about how Lise Meitner was not given credit for a contribution in the discovery of element 91. Overall, this chapter was filled with new interesting information.

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