The School of Physics could give us no suitable premises，but for lack of anything better，the Director permitted us to use an abandoned shed which had been in service as a dissecting room of the School of Medicine.Its glass roof did not afford complete shelter against rain；the heat was suffocating in summer，and the bitter cold of winter was only a little lessened by the iron stove，except in its immediate vicinity.There was no question of obtaining the needed proper apparatus in common use by chemists.We simply had some old pine-wood tables with furnaces and gas burners.We had to use the adjoining yard for those of our chemical operations that involved producing irritating gases；even then the gas often filled our shed.With this equipment we entered on our exhausting work.

先前的實驗使我們相信，在圣約阿希姆斯塔爾煉鈾廠被冶煉出來的鈾瀝青礦廢渣中，肯定含有鐳元素。該工廠屬于奧地利管轄，我們想辦法獲準能夠無償地得到這些廢渣。廢渣本身并不值錢，但是如何把它們弄到巴黎卻使人大傷腦筋。幾經周折，我們成功地將這些混有松針的褐色廢渣裝在袋子里面，運到我們的實驗室門前，那一刻，我高興得跳了起來。后來，當得知這廢渣的放射性竟然比原礦還要強的時候，我們真的是驚詫不已。這些廢渣沒有經過任何處理，直接堆放在工廠外的松樹林里，這真是幫了我們大忙了。后來，應維也納科學院的要求，奧地利政府又允許我們以極低的價格收購了好幾噸這種廢渣。我們就是利用這種廢渣才從實驗室里分離出鐳來的。直到后來，美國婦女贈送給我的鐳才是從其他礦石中提煉出來的。

皮埃爾的學校并沒有為我們提供適合的實驗場地，但幸運的是校長允許我們使用以前作為解剖教學用房的一處廢棄的木棚。在它的頂上有一個挺大的玻璃天窗，但卻有多處裂痕，每當下雨就會漏水。棚里面夏天悶熱潮濕，冬天陰冷難耐。雖然可以生爐子取暖，但也僅是火爐旁有那么點熱氣而已。除此之外，我們還需自己掏錢購置所有必備的儀器裝置。木棚里僅有一張破舊的松木桌與幾個爐臺、汽燈。當做化學實驗時，經常會產生一種刺激性很強的有毒氣體，因此我們只好把這種實驗移到院子里去做，就是這樣，棚內仍舊有毒氣彌漫。在如此惡劣的條件之下，我們拼命地做著實驗。

Yet it was in this miserable old shed that we passed the best and happiest years of our life，devoting our entire days to our work.Often I had to prepare our lunch in the shed，so as not to interrupt some particularly important operation.Sometimes I had to spend a whole day mixing a boiling mass with a heavy iron rod nearly as large as myself.I would be broken with fatigue at the day's end.Other days，on the contrary，the work would be a most minute and delicate fractional crystallization，in the effort to concentrate the radium.I was then annoyed by the floating dust of iron and coal from which I could not protect my precious products.But I shall never be able to express the joy of the untroubled quietness of this atmosphere of research and the excitement of actual progress with the confident hope of still better results.The feeling of discouragement that sometimes came after some unsuccessful toil did not last long and gave way to renewed activity.We had happy moments devoted to a quiet discussion of our work，walking around our shed.

One of our joys was to go into our workroom at night；we then perceived on all sides the feebly luminous silhouettes of the bottles or capsules containing our products.It was really a lovely sight and one always new to us.The glowing tubes looked like faint，fairy lights.

雖然如此，我們卻認為在這個極其簡陋的木棚中度過的時光，是我們一生當中最美好最快樂的。為了不中斷一些重要的實驗，我經常就在木棚里隨便做點吃的當做我們的午餐。有的時候，我不得不一整天都用一根同我身體差不多重的大鐵棒去對沸騰著的瀝青鈾礦進行攪動。等到傍晚時分，工作結束的時候，我就會像散了架似的，連話都不想說了。還有的時候，我又要進行極其精密的結晶、分離工作，這時我又會因為室內四處飄浮著的灰塵，影響到濃縮鐳的程序，使我沒有辦法保護好分離出的“寶貝”而苦惱。唯一令我覺得滿意的是，沒有人會來打擾，我們可以安靜地進行我們的實驗。當實驗進行得很順利，可能獲得令人滿意的結果時，我們就會歡欣鼓舞，激動之情簡直無以言表。但有的時候，我們干了很久卻仍然見不到成效，這時沮喪失望的心情就會困擾我們。不過，這種情況不會持續太久，不多時我們就會又去考慮新的設想和工作了。工作之余，我倆便會一邊在木棚中踱來踱去，一邊對我們的實驗進行冷靜的討論，這個時候，我們的快樂也是難以言表的。

還有一件令我們感到快樂的事情，那就是，夜晚跑到木棚里去。這時我們能夠看到那被我們提煉、分離出來的寶貝正在玻璃瓶或者玻璃管里向四周散發出淡淡的光芒，真是美麗極了，令我們感到既新奇又激動，那閃爍著光彩的寶貝，宛如神話中的神燈。

Thus the months passed，and our efforts，hardly interrupted by short vacations，brought forth more and more complete evidence.Our faith grew ever stronger，and our work being more and more known，we found means to get new quantities of raw material and to carry on some of our crude processes in a factory，allowing me to give more time to the delicate finishing treatment.

At this stage I devoted myself especially to the purification of the radium，my husband being absorbed by the study of the physical properties of the rays emitted by the new substances.It was only after treating one ton of pitchblende residues that I could get definite results.Indeed we know today that even in the best minerals there are not more than a few decigrammes of radium in a ton of raw material.

At last the time came when the isolated substances showed all the characters of a pure chemical body.This body，the radium，gives a characteristic spectrum，and I was able to determine for it an atomic weight much higher than that of the barium.This was achieved in 1902.I then possessed one decigramme of very pure radium chloride.It had taken me almost four years to produce the kind of evidence which chemical science demands，that radium is truly a new element.One year would probably have been enough for the same purpose，if reasonable means had been at my disposal.The demonstration that cost so much effort was the basis of the new science of radioactivity.

In later years I was able to prepare several decigrammes of pure radium salt，to make a more accurate determination of the atomic weight and even to isolate the pure radium metal.However，1902 was the year in which the existence and character of radium were definitely established.

幾個月里，除了短暫的假期以外，我們從沒有中斷過實驗研究。研究結果越來越明顯地表明，我們正一步一步地走向成功，所以，我們的信心也就越來越堅定了。這時，我們的研究工作也逐漸受到了人們的關注。因此我們不但可以購買到更多的廢渣，還可以在工廠里完成初步的提煉，這就極大地方便了我們，令我們有更多的時間去進行精確的分離工作。

到了這個階段，我就專門從事純凈鐳的提煉工作，而皮埃爾則專心對新元素散發出的射線的物理性質進行研究。當我們處理完一噸鈾瀝青礦渣之后，得出了一個確定的結論：在1噸含鐳最豐富的原礦中，鐳的含量也不足幾分克。

1902年，我們提煉出了一分克特別純凈的氯化鐳。這些氯化鐳顯示出了元素所應具有的性質，而且具有不同于其他元素的特別光譜。我們還確定了它的原子量，其值遠遠大于鋇。就這樣，我們得到了確定鐳為一種獨立元素的全部必要證據。這一工作耗時四年，但是如果資金充足、設備齊全的話，也許只需一年我們就能夠完成了。我們嘔心瀝血求得的結果，為放射性這門新的學科奠定了基礎。

幾年后，我準備了幾分克絕對純凈的鐳鹽，更加精確地測定出了它的原子量，甚至還提煉出了純粹的金屬鐳元素本身。不過，確定鐳的存在及其性質的年份仍舊是1902年。