Crystals and precision instruments
Curie received a physics degree in Paris in 1878 and worked in laboratory teaching. With Jacques he investigated piezoelectric effects, in which mechanical stress on crystals produces electric charge. He constructed sensitive balances, electrometers and piezoelectric devices, technologies later used to measure weak currents from ionisation.
Magnetism and symmetry
Curie investigated how magnetic properties change with temperature, work associated with the temperature now called the Curie point. He also developed ideas about symmetry in physical phenomena, linking careful experimental measurements with broader physical relationships.
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Radioactivity with Marie Curie
Pierre married Marie in 1895. Their 1898 work identified polonium; the subsequent radium paper also named the chemist Gustave Bémont. Chemical separation and investigations of radioactive properties continued over several years. The Curies shared the 1903 physics prize with Becquerel. Pierre died in a Paris street accident in 1906.