PROLOGUE

We are in 2019/2020. There is a serious risk that traditional science subjects are going to be forgotten due to changes in our lives, fast pace of life. Today’s children spend their free time in virtual world with the mobile devices in their hands. What shall we do? How could we increase their science awareness or their interest in nature, biology, chemistry? We got an idea!

Let’s try to change their mind and offer them the opportunity to explore science world through digital media. Let's move to the space and try to find the eTwinnio.

The base for this change was the fact that each child loves to play. Therefore, we took them into the story. We spent together with our classmates from Spain, Greece and Turkey many hours in the space, flew across the globe, flew back into the past, solved a lot of problems, obstacles, challenges, tackled difficult tasks, get information and knowledge how to connect nature with our lives, how to relax, how to reset the mind as we finally found what we looked for. We found out that chemistry, together with biology, astronomy and other sciences are around us.

Why haven’t we noticed this fact so far? Is eTwinnio what we looked for as Maria Curie, who accompanied us during our journey, looked for elements and finally found it, the magic of science, the magic of nature, the element which is able to draw attention of young people towards the science? We hope that the wandering through the mysterious world of chemistry, biology, astronomy extended our students their horizon and new spark for their future career and they will decide to continue and walk in Marie Curie's shoes.

Written by ZŠ, Dargovských hrdinov 19, HUMENNÉ SLOVAKIA

A JOURNEY INTO THE PAST

We're in Paris and we're going to meet in Marie and Pierre Curie's laboratory. It's a cold, damp and precarious space. In the distance, we can see the complicity between both of them. They are soul mates who have found each other in science. Together, they have won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of polonium, radium and radioactivity. Now they want to investigate what these discoveries can offer as a therapeutic measure for the world.

We sneak up on them and introduce ourselves. Marie is delighted that there are so many students interested in the discovery of a new element of the periodic table, the eTwinnio.

She tells us how many times she had to do the same experiment, once and again, in order to find and synthesize about one gram of radium.

The generous, courageous and tenacious look in her eyes stands out. Pierre, a little shier but very kind to us, tells us all that Marie has contributed to him as a scientist.

They have gone through many adversities, but they have never stopped believing that, together, they could achieve and reach all their goals.

They kindly invite us to share a coffee at their home. There, we meet Irène who is seven years older than Eve. Irène is a lively girl, with green eyes and curly hair, she feels a great interest in the study of mathematics and science. At night she always manages to have her mother by her side until she falls asleep. She loves swimming and walking with her father, collecting shells on the beach. With the help of her mother, she learns to experience everything in a playful way, based on a holistic education. Little Eve will opt for the creative and artistic, learning to play the piano from an early age. We love how Grandpa Eugène takes care of the girls, thus

helping the parents who spend many hours a day in his laboratory. Marie and Pierre spend the few free moments they have with the family, in contact with nature, cycling, on the beach, and always remembering their climbs to the Tatra Mountains, which Marie loved so much in her native Poland. She always took her city Warsaw, where she was born, and her country in her heart. Written by IES MACARENA, Seville, Spain.

And now we begin to wonder what defines a chemical element. All known matter is made of

atoms. But where did they form? On Earth, in the ocean or in space? As we know, the elements present in the Earth's crust and in comets are hydrogen (56%), oxygen (30%), carbon (10%), nitrogen (1.7%), sulphur (0.3%) and phosphorus. (0,08%). There are 59 different elements in the human body.

But where were the oldest elements formed? The answer is: in the universe. And the most abundant elements in the universe are H, He, O and C.

Scientists may know the composition of astronomical objects by studying the electromagnetic radiation that reaches the Earth and through meteorites.

The origin of these elements is the Big Bang. In this phenomenon the lightest elements were formed: hydrogen, helium and lithium. Then, the rest of the elements were being integrated within the stars by nuclear reactions in which their energy is transformed into mass: E = mc2.

Marie and Pierre continue speaking wisely. They say that the elements tell us the age of the star and they can be found in nature, in any state. Sometimes the essential is invisible to our eyes, and we must always be attentive to what we perceive and the reactions it causes in what surrounds us or in us. First, we have to find the element and then define in which family it would be added, its weight and atomic mass. Some elements can emit energy through themselves.  

Pierre and Marie indicate and advise us to also

make a disclosure in any scientific magazine or article, with the aim of sharing it with other scientists and thus make it a heritage of humanity, as they decided to do with the radio when they discovered it.

Marie does not know that she will visit Spain several times after the proclamation of the Second Republic on April 14, 1919 and later in April 1931 at the invitation of the First National Congress of Medicine in the presence of King Alfonso XIII, always trying to defend that science should be sustained with public funds.

Nor does she know the influence she will have on future generations of women scientists of all times after her and all around the world, as an inspiring model and influence for many people in society who admire her, as a group of students and teachers from several countries throughout Europe and Turkey who  collaborate on a eTwinning project, working close together as she liked. 

Written by IES VEGA DE ATARFE, Atarfe, Spain

IES Macarena

(Seville)

Today we are in Marie and Pierre Curie’s laboratory. It’s a very spacious place. They are soul mates who have met in science. They together have obtained the Nobel Prize for Physics thanks to the Discovery of polonium and radium and radioactivity. 

I love so many students are interested in science. I’ll tell you about all the experiments I had to do to get one gram of radium.

Pierre Curie, a little shier, tells us all that Marie gave him as a scientist. He kindly invites us to have a coffee and we meet Irène who is very interested in science, with the great help of her mother. Eve will enter art in the future. We love how grandpa Eugène cares for the girls when their parents spend all day in the lab.

Marie was great help as a scientist disseminating our discoveries.

She doesn’t know she will visit Spain after the proclamation of the Second Republic. Later she will attend the First Congress of Medicine in the presence of King Alfonso XIII. She will always support that science should be sustained with public funds.

We always try to spend our free moments in contact with nature by taking rides on the beach or in mountains. You should always make a disclosure in any magazine.

Marie Curie, the first woman scientist to receive the Nobel Prize twice, followed the education of her daughters Irène and Eve as she explored with polonium and radium in the laboratory. She noticed Irène's interest in mathematics, physics and chemistry. In the years to come, Irène worked on research with her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie without ever giving up, just as her parents did. Irène and Frédéric received the Nobel Prize for discovering artificial radioactivity. Marie Curie, a scientist, but also an excellent mother who continues to inspire teachers and students with eTwinnio, a new element of the periodic table.

Written by Bilim ve Sanat Merkezi ÇANAKKALE (Turkey).

We want to thank Marie for being so brave and helping the wounded soldiers with her daughter Irène.

Do you know that Marie Curie helped save lives during the war? Let's go back in time. 20th century, 1914, the First World War breaks out. Millions of young men are called to the front to fight by obeying the laws of their countries. One was the block of France, England and Russia and the other the German and Austro-Hungarian empires. At that time you couldn't refuse to fight.

Marie Curie knows what war means: destruction and death, bombs, infected trenches, bayonets, disease. She decides to help, convinced that science is at the service of people.

She knows that many lives can be saved by taking X-rays to see fractures, the shrapnel in the wounded and the aftermath of bombs. Marie Curie and her daughter Irène, only seventeen years old, went to the places where the wounded soldiers were brought.   

How does she do it? She insists that the French government help her to transform some small vans into ambulances where she transported the X-ray machines. They were known as "Les petites Curie": The little Curie.

Marie loved science so much that she knew that, in the face of the Great War, it would help her save lives. 

The lesson she taught the people of France and her

beloved teenage daughter is an inspiration of courage,pacifism and medical advances. She taught us to believe and trust in ourselves when the cause we are supporting is fair. Irène would also have to live through and overcome World War II. Their lives were never easy, just like now we have had to fight a pandemic and learn to overcome fears and obstacles. But from Marie and her family we must learn to have courage and determination, to commit to the reality around us and to give the best of ourselves to others.

 There is no point in obtaining merits and medals or awards if you do not manage to make the mark you leave a mark that awakens hope and love for humanity, with a solidarity and respect always for our mother Earth, that nature that the Curies loved so much.    

Written by IES Macarena, Seville, Spain.

Marie curie played a leading role in creating a place for women in science. Due to her pioneering contributions and dedication to her work, Curie was nominated several ‘first woman’ titles.

In 1903, she became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for Physics and then she was awarded the Nobel Prize again in 1911, this time for Chemistry. She became the first woman to win it twice and the most interesting fact of all is that she won the Nobel Prize for her contribution to two different scientific fields.

After the death of her husband, she was offered his position in the University of Paris, making her the first woman to become a professor in that institute.

Pierre Curie was killed in a carriage accident while crossing the street in April 19th 1906, and  she succeeded his professorship. Marie Curie was determined to devoting her life to the work that she and her husband had partnered together so successfully.

Curie never actively fought for or wished any of  these titles.

Instead, she merely carried on with her scientific research – as seamlessly as the act of breathing – that spoke for itself. She did, however, use these titles and the respect they demanded, to clear the path of her research.

Marie Curie is the paradigm of what a person can do when there is genuine love for one’s work. Her daughter Irène Curie was now an integral part of her research team.

Madame Curie contracted Leukaemia from her lifelong exposure to radioactive substances and died in 1934.

The mal-effects of radiation are so deadly that all her original research papers and stationery, even her personal items like clothing and cookbooks, are very dangerous to touch. Her lab books are preserved in lead lined boxes.

“Here’s to the woman who walked undeterred, who was so consumed by her love for science that her bridal outfit, for all those years of scientific discovery, took on the role of her laboratory clothing.” Written by 11th Gymnasio of Heraklion, CRETE, Greece.

This journey to the past and especially this interview has been fascinating. Learning more about this extraordinary woman has made that her influence on us increases.

We have been witnesses that Curie's family is an example to follow, a reference for all the kids who could be a scientist in the future. 

The love for her job, for her family, her constancy and dedication to the science are clues we must follow to go on looking for the eTwinnio.  Written by Ceuta, Spain.

We have to return. We thank them for inspiring us so much in our eTwinning project "Women with conscience and science: Marie Curie. Looking for eTwinnio" and in the search for the eTwinnio.

We thank the first woman to win two Nobel Prizes, one in Physics and one in Chemistry, for her courage, social commitment and bravery in a world where women had very difficult access to scientific research and teaching.

Thank you, Marie and Pierre, for opening your doors of knowledge and your hearts to us. 



Written by IES MACARENA, Sevilla, Spain.