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Curie, Marie Skłodowska 1867-1934.

Polish-born French chemist. She shared a 1903 Nobel Prize with her husband, Pierre Curie (1859-1906), and Henri Becquerel for fundamental research on radioactivity. In 1911 she won a second Nobel Prize for her discovery and study of radium and polonium.

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Marie Curie

Cu·rie

(kyrē, ky-rē, kü-), Irène

See Irène Joliot-Curie.

cu·rie

(kyrē, ky-rē)

n. Abbr. Ci

A unit of radioactivity, equal to the amount of radioactive decay of an isotope; equal to 3.7 × 10¹⁰ disintegrations per second, or 3.7 × 10¹⁰ becquerels. In 1975, the curie was replaced by the becquerel as the standard SI unit of radioactivity.

[After Pierre Curie.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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