Marie Curie and Spooky Rays: Crash Course History of Science #31

What observation led Wilhelm Röntgen to discover X-rays?

• A piece of cardboard glowing near a cathode ray tube.

• A photographic plate changing color when exposed to light.

• His own skeleton appearing on a screen.

• Uranium emitting rays in the dark.

Why did Wilhelm Röntgen name the newly discovered rays "X-rays"?

• They were named after his friend, Count Fritz von Spooky.

• The "X" stood for "extraordinary" due to their unique properties.

• He used "X" to represent an unknown variable, as mathematicians do.

• The rays were discovered in an X-shaped laboratory setup.

Which material did Antoine Henri Becquerel use that led to his discovery of radioactivity?

• Radium

• Uranium

• Barium platinocyanide

• Lead

Why did Marie Skłodowska Curie attend a "Secret Flying University" in Warsaw?

• She preferred to study independently without formal university structure.

• The university in Warsaw did not admit women and lab science was outlawed by the Russian Empire.

• She was conducting secret experiments that required a hidden location.

• It was a temporary school before she could afford to study abroad.

Where did Marie Curie meet her future husband, Pierre Curie?

• At the Jagiellonian University in Krakow

• At the School of Physics and Chemistry in Paris

• At a scientific conference in Warsaw

• In a research lab in London

What was Marie Curie's initial groundbreaking discovery regarding uranium?

• Uranium could be used to treat cancer

• Uranium gave off rays that made the air conduct electricity

• Uranium was an indivisible unit of matter

• Uranium could be split into smaller particles

Which two new radioactive elements did Marie and Pierre Curie discover in 1898?

• Thorium and Uranium

• Radium and Plutonium

• Polonium and Radium

• Curium and Einsteinium

How did Marie Curie contribute to medicine during World War I?

• She developed new vaccines for soldiers

• She invented a portable operating table

• She set up mobile X-ray units to help field doctors

• She discovered antibiotics to fight infections