History and current research in the field of radiochemistry at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

Abstract

The year 2011 has been declared the International Year of Chemistry. This is also the 100th anniversary of awarding the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Maria Curie-Sklodowska. Maria Sklodowska, by marriage Curie, born and brought up in Poland, is one of the best known and most distinguished scientists. She is a patroness of many institutions, schools, scientific establishments, and universities not only at home but also abroad. Among them, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University occupies an important position. To bring to mind the circumstances and reasons for its foundation, one should go 67 years into the past. It was 1944 and the Second World War was still in progress. However, in July that of year, Lublin became free from German occupation. Liberated Lublin attracted the intellectuals who had survived the turmoil of the war. Among the scientists who arrived in Lublin then was Henryk Raabe, the zoologist, a lecturer at Jagiellonian University and a professor at Lviv University, who on behalf of the scientific circle proposed the government should open a new university in Lublin. The first state university in Lublin, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, was set up and started its activities on 23 October 1944 [1]. It can be presumed that the choice of the Lublin University patroness was made for two reasons. The world scientific prestige of the distinguished Pole was to highlight the status of the newly opened university. However, the reason might be the close family relationships of Maria Sklodowska with Lublin and the Lublin region. Her grandfather, Jozef Sklodowski, was the headmaster of the Province School in Lublin. The first rector of the university was Henryk Raabe, who contributed greatly to its organization. The grand inauguration of the first academic year was held on 14 January 1945. Then, the new academic year was inaugurated on 23 October [1]. Since that time, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin has been developing its own structure for meeting the academic standards and requirements resulting from changing scientific and social actuality. Presently, it includes ten faculties: arts; biology and earth sciences; economics; philosophy and sociology; humanities; mathematics, physics and computer science; pedagogy and psychology; law and administration; political science; as well as chemistry [2]. Situated in the center of the campus is the monument of the patroness, which watches over Maria Curie-Sklodowska University. It was unveiled in the centenary of the great chemist's birth. Thus, special attention is paid here to chemistry, which was inherent in her university from the very beginning although in various evolving institutional forms. Presently, in the Faculty of Chemistry about 280 people are employed, including 150 university teachers (43 hold the position of professor or lecturer) and the achievements of student education and research staff have resulted in about 3,500 graduates with the Master title in chemistry and environment protection, 246 scientists with the Doctor title in chemical science, and 78 members of habilitation studies who were granted the habilitation doctor title [3, 4]. The current organizational structure of the faculty is as follows: Department of Adsorption Department of Planar Chromatography Department of Physicochemistry of Solid Surfaces Department of Interfacial Phenomena Department of Analytical Chemistry and Instrumental Analysis Department of Inorganic Chemistry Department of General and Coordination Chemistry Department of Organic Chemistry Department of Polymer Chemistry Department of Environmental Chemistry Department of Chemical Technology Department of Theoretical Chemistry Department of Chemical Education Department of Crystallography Department of Chromatographic Methods Department for the Modeling of Physicochemical Processes Department of Optical Fiber Technology Department of Radiochemistry and Colloid Chemistry In the Department of Radiochemistry and Colloid Chemistry investigations are carried out which are a continuation of the research done by Maria Curie, who after 1918 concentrated intensively on radiochemistry, that is, the chemistry of the radioactive elements: polonium, actinium, radium, and thorium isotopes. The research of the department is colloid-chemistry-oriented; particularly issues connected with generally understood surface physicochemistry, the ionic theory of double layers, and the stability of dispersed systems. The other group of issues is widely understood environment protection, particularly radiochemical monitoring. These investigations started in 1986 after the nuclear power station disaster in Chernobyl. Presently, they include monitoring and study of the mechanism of radionuclide migration and accumulation in various areas with particular regard to adsorption of radioactive isotopes in soil, plants, bottom and alluvial sediments, as well as permanent monitoring of air and research into the presence of indoor radon.