Great scientists（Period 3 Listening and Speaking）
one of marie curie’s outstanding achievements was to have understood the need to accumulate intense radioactive sources, not only for the treatment of illness but also to maintain an abundant supply for research in nuclear physics; the resultant stockpile was an unrivaled instrument until the appearance after 1930 of particle accelerators.the existence in paris at the radium institute of a stock of 1.5 grams of radium in which, over a period of several years, radium d and polonium had accumulated, made a decisive contribution to the success of the experiments undertaken in the years around 1930 and in particular of those performed by irène curie in conjunction with frédéric joliot, whom she had married in 1926 (see joliot-curie, frédéric and irène).this work prepared the way for the discovery of the neutron by sir james chadwick and above all the discovery in 1934 by irène and frédéric joliot-curie of artificial radioactivity.a few months after this discovery marie curie died as a result of leukemia caused by the action of radiation.her contribution to physics had been immense, not only in her own work, the importance of which had been demonstrated by the award to her of two nobel prizes, but because of her influence on subsequent generations of nuclear physicists and chemists.in 1995 marie curie’s ashes were enshrined in the panth on in paris; she was the first woman to receive this honour for her own achievements.