NEUROSURGICAL FOCUS Neurosurg Focus 39 (1):E7, 2015 Pierre Curie: the anonymous neurosurgical contributor Karen Man, BAS,1 Victor M. Sabourin, MD,1 Chirag D. Gandhi, MD,1–3 Peter W. Carmel, MD,1 and Charles J. Prestigiacomo, MD1–3 Departments of 1Neurological Surgery, 2Radiology, 3Neurology and Neuroscience, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey Pierre Curie, best known as a Nobel Laureate in Physics for his co-contributions to the field of radioactivity alongside research partner and wife Marie Curie, died suddenly in 1906 from a street accident in Paris. Tragically, his skull was crushed under the wheel of a horse-drawn carriage. This article attempts to honor the life and achievements of Pierre Curie, whose trailblazing work in radioactivity and piezoelectricity set into motion a wide range of technological develop- ments that have culminated in the advent of numerous techniques used in neurological surgery today. These innovations include brachytherapy, Gamma Knife radiosurgery, focused ultrasound, and haptic feedback in robotic surgery. http://thejns.org/doi/abs/10.3171/2015.4.FOCUS15102 KEY WORDS Pierre Curie; piezoelectricity; radium brachytherapy; Gamma Knife; focused ultrasound; haptic feedback IERRE Curie (Fig. 1) was a man of singular ability in brother Jacques.6 Through the liberal attitude and support the sciences. Although he is not much celebrated in of his family, Pierre earned a Bachelor of Science degree scientific history, this may be due in part to the fact (equivalent to a General Certificate of Education) at the Pthat he was a modest man in life, with a general distaste for age of sixteen and was able to matriculate into the presti- glory or unnecessary publicity.14 However, to understand gious Sorbonne, also known as the University of Paris, for the trajectory of his work, it is necessary to understand the his higher education.6,7,14,26 Two years later, in 1877, Pierre life that he led, his early work in physics, and the passion graduated with a licentiate in the Physical Sciences, the for scientific investigation that enabled his achievements. equivalent of a modern bachelor’s degree in physics.6,7,26 His life’s work has so broadly impacted medicine and the Afterward, he began to work at the Sorbonne as an as- sciences that it may be said that those who employ the sistant in a physics laboratory in an effort to help support fruits of his labor in modern times owe it to him to remem- his family financially.6,7,26 In 1880 (Fig. 2), he published ber his legacy. his first paper in the physical sciences with Professor Paul Desains, the director of the lab where he worked, describ- ing a novel method for measuring infrared waves using Early Life and Career of Pierre Curie thermoelectricity and a metallic grid.6,25,26 Pierre Curie was born on May 15, 1859, in Paris, Pierre’s older brother Jacques was also working at the France.6,14 Pierre’s paternal grandfather and father were Sorbonne as a lab assistant in the mineralogy depart- both physicians.6,7,14 His father had also worked as a natu- ment.6,7,26 Throughout childhood and adulthood, Pierre and ral science researcher at the Museum of Natural History Jacques were close friends and shared similar interests.6,14 in Paris.6,7 Pierre was homeschooled during his childhood, While together at the Sorbonne, the brothers investigated having been deemed by his parents too sensitive and easily and first described the phenomenon of piezoelectricity— distracted for the rigidly structured French education sys- the tendency of some crystals to produce electricity when tem.6,7,14,26 Instead, he was taught by his parents and older subjected to mechanical stress.6,12,14,47 For the sake of their SUBMITTED February 28, 2015. ACCEPTED April 3, 2015. INCLUDE WHEN CITING DOI: 10.3171/2015.4.FOCUS15102. DISCLOSURE The authors report no conflict of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study or the findings specified in this paper. ©AANS, 2015 Neurosurg Focus Volume 39 • July 2015 1 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/05/21 05:06 PM UTC K. Man et al. FIG. 1. Pierre Curie in the amphitheater of the Faculty of Sciences of Paris, 1904. Courtesy of the Curie Museum, Collection of the Associa- tion of Curie Joliot-Curie. (http://www.calames.abes.fr/pub/curie.aspx#d FIG. 2. Pierre Curie, circa 1880. Courtesy of the Curie Museum, Collec- etails?id=Calames-2014730177403311003). tion of the Association of Curie Joliot-Curie. (http://www.calames.abes. fr/pub/curie.aspx#details?id=Calames-201473017740330823). experiments, Pierre developed a tool known as the Cu- detect underwater vessels.6,7,26,47,48,62 This sonar device rie electrometer (Fig. 3), used to measure small amounts generated echoes that reflected off of underwater objects, of electricity emitted by piezoelectric materials, such as applying pressure to piezoelectric transducers upon their quartz crystals.6,7,26,47 This device would also later be used return, which converted the signal to electricity and al- by Marie Curie in her investigation on the emissions of lowed for the calculation of the range, speed, and position uranium salts and various other compounds, which would of underwater objects.6,7,26,47,48,62 eventually lead to her pioneering work in radioactivity.6,7 The brothers went on to publish several papers on the top- The Power Couple of Physics: Pierre and ic of piezoelectricity.11–13,26 In 1883, at the age of 24, Pierre left the Sorbonne to Marie teach as a chief laboratory assistant at the School of In- Pierre Curie and Marie Skłodowska (Fig. 4) were ini- dustrial Physics and Chemistry of the City of Paris, where tially introduced to each other by a mutual friend in 1894, he conducted research on crystal symmetry and magne- when the Polish-born Marie had just earned her licentiate tism.6,7,14,26,47 In 1895, he obtained his doctoral degree in in physics at the Sorbonne.6,7,10,14 Pierre and Marie shared physics, for which he published his most influential indi- an immediate personal rapport, which, after several vidual work: his doctoral thesis on paramagnetic materi- months of friendship, resulted in marriage in July of 1895 als.6,19,26 In his thesis, he established Curie’s law, which (Fig. 5).6,7,10,14,26 By 1897, Pierre was engrossed in research states that the magnetic susceptibility of a paramagnetic on the properties of crystals, and Marie began to pursue a substance is inversely proportional to the absolute tem- doctoral degree in physics with encouragement from her perature.6,18,19,26 He also described the Curie temperature, husband.6,7,10,14 the point at which ferromagnetic materials lose their mag- Prior to the start of Marie’s doctoral research, in 1896, netic characteristics and become paramagnetic.6,18,19,26,47 Henri Becquerel had described the spontaneous emission In 1895, after successfully defending his doctoral thesis, of rays from uranium salts and thus uncovered the phenom- Pierre became a professor at the School of Industrial Phys- enon of radioactivity.6,7,10,14,26 Marie became intrigued by ics and Chemistry.6,14,26,47 the nascent literature and sought to examine a wide variety One of his pupils was Paul Langevin, who was later of materials for similar energetic properties.6,7,10,14,26 Pierre instrumental in the development of sonar technology, an used his various connections with a chemist acquaintance, application of piezoelectricity that used sound waves to the School of Physics, and the Museum of Natural History 2 Neurosurg Focus Volume 39 • July 2015 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/05/21 05:06 PM UTC Pierre Curie: anonymous neurosurgical contributor FIG. 4. Pierre and Marie Curie in the Curie garden at Sceaux, 1895. Photo taken by Albert Harlingue. Courtesy of the Curie Museum, Collec- tion of the Association of Curie Joliot-Curie. (http://www.calames.abes. fr/pub/curie.aspx#details?id=Calames-201473017740331883). prepared a paper on the discovery of a second radioactive 6,7,10,14,16,26 FIG. 3. The Piezoelectric Quartz Electrometer patented by Pierre Curie. element, which they named “radium.” In Decem- Courtesy of the Curie Museum, Collection of the Association of Curie ber of 1898, Henri Becquerel presented their paper to the Joliot-Curie. (http://www.calames.abes.fr/pub/curie.aspx#details?id=Cal French Academy of Sciences, but the society informed the ames-2014730177403311044). Curies that their paper would not be accepted unless they could confirm the singularity of their element through in Paris to acquire a range of compound samples for Marie mass spectrometry.6,7,14,26 to analyze.6 Part of her analytical methodology involved However, the microscopic amounts of radium the Cu- using the Curie electrometer, her husband’s invention, to ries had been able to isolate were not adequate for spec- detect minute emissions from each substance.6,7,26 In 1898, troscopic analysis.6,10,14 They would need to process enor- interested in the results of his wife’s work, Pierre ceased mous quantities of pitchblende (500 tons, by the end of his own studies on crystals to collaborate with Marie and their experiments); the venture would be massively expen- recruit assistants to help with the purification of chemi- sive and the purification would ultimately take years.6,10,14 cal compounds.6,10,14 Together in their lab (Fig. 6), Pierre Admirably, the Curies (Fig. 7) were not daunted. Pierre and Marie discovered that pitchblende, then regarded as wrote letters to numerous institutions and organizations, a waste byproduct of the uranium extraction process, had within and outside