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Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the scientific achievements of the Curie family. In 1903 Marie and Pierre Curie shared a Nobel Prize in Physics with Henri Becquerel for their work on radioactivity, a term which Marie coined. Marie went on to win a Nobel in Chemistry eight years later; remarkably, her daughter Ir\\xe8ne Joliot-Curie would later share a Nobel with her husband Fr\\xe9d\\xe9ric Joliot-Curie for their discovery that it was possible to create radioactive materials in the laboratory. The work of the Curies added immensely to our knowledge of fundamental physics and paved the way for modern treatments for cancer and other illnesses.

With:

Patricia Fara\\nSenior Tutor of Clare College, University of Cambridge

Robert Fox\\nEmeritus Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oxford

Steven T Bramwell\\nProfessor of Physics and former Professor of Chemistry at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.