CURIE Marie (1867-1934) - Lot 135

Lot 135
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Result : 22 100EUR
CURIE Marie (1867-1934) - Lot 135
CURIE Marie (1867-1934) AUTOGRAPHIC MANUSCRIT, Compton Effect, [ca. 1925]; 1 page small in-4; in red cloth jacket with title piece on back. Laboratory notes with mathematical calculations and measurements. This sheet is accompanied by an autograph certificate signed by her daughter Irène JOLIOT-CURIE (1897-1956), Paris December 16, 1946 (1 p. in-8 on the letterhead of the Radium Institute): "Paper written by Marie Curie. Sheet used for some calculations related to the preparation of an experiment, probably on the γ-rays of thorium derivatives. [...] Probably dated around 1925". These rare calculations of Marie Curie were thus made during her research on radioactivity, notably, according to her daughter Irène, at the same time as a series of experiments, probably on gamma rays and thorium derivatives. At this time, Marie Curie directed the physics and chemistry laboratories of the Radium Institute, where she pursued her own research while supervising the work of the scientists under her direction. Her main concern, as always, was with radioactive elements. The experiments appear to have taken place over a period of thirty days ("t>30 d.") and may have been designed to measure the evolution of the decay rate of thorium X and certain other radioactive elements. Irène Curie dated these notes to about 1925, probably based on the title "Compton effect" (the Compton effect, a means of measuring and interpreting the change in wavelength occurring when X-rays are scattered, was discovered by Arthur Compton in 1923), but also probably based on her experience working alongside her mother. In the margin of her calculations and measurements, Marie Curie noted: "t=10 d. the 4th term is negligible. t=20 d. the 3rd is also negligible. t>30 d. only the first 2 terms are kept. [...] The corrective term occurs even after several years"... PROVENANCE Harvey B. Plotnick Collection (The Harvey Plotnick Library of Quantum Physics, sale New York 4 October 2002, n° 63). Christie's 9 June 2005 lot 0054
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