On this day, 126 years ago, July 18, 1899 (June 11, 1899 in the lunar calendar), the Curies discovered "polonium". There is an element called "polonium" in the periodic table of chemical elements. Speaking of the origin of the name "polonium", there is also a touching story. The scientists who discovered polonium were Pierre Curie and his wife Marie Skorodowski. Curie is French, but Mary is Polish. Mary was born on November 7, 1867, when Poland was ruled by Tsar Russia. From an early age, Mary learned to love her motherland and hate invaders under her father's education. When she grew up, she witnessed the brutality of the rulers of Tsarist Russia and loved her motherland even more. At that time, in Warsaw, there was a monument praising the Russian rulers, and every time Mary passed by, she would spit to express her hatred and contempt. When she was in middle school, her good friend's brother was sentenced to hanging for opposing tsarist Russia. On the day this patriot was executed, she silently knelt on the ground with tears in her eyes and secretly vowed to dedicate her life to the motherland. Later, she went to France to study. In April 1894, Kowalski, a Polish physics professor who was lecturing in Paris, introduced her acquaintance with the young scientist Pierre Curie. Her enterprising spirit of science immediately attracted Pierre, and the two fell in love and got married in July 1895. In 1898, the Curies discovered a new element. Both of them were very excited. Mary suddenly grabbed Pierre's hand and said excitedly: "The name of my poor motherland has disappeared from the map, but I want the name of my motherland to be engraved in people's memories forever." I want to call the element we have just discovered 'Poland'-polonium, do you agree?" Pierre looked at his respectable wife and nodded seriously. On July 18, 1899, they publicly announced the discovery of a new element called "polonium".