noun

curie

KYOOR-ee/ˈkjʊri/

A unit of radioactivity equal to 37 billion radioactive decays per second.

The instrument's scale measures radioactivity in curies.

A vintage radioactivity measurement instrument stands beside a sealed source, with the short functional unit Ci visible on the scale; unit illustration rather than a person or chemical element.

Etymology

curieFrenchsurname of physicist Pierre Curie

The radioactivity unit honors Pierre Curie, who discovered radium with his wife, Marie. Its connection to radioactivity comes from that namesake, not the surname’s Old French meaning, “kitchen.”

More examples

The sample's activity was a fraction of a curie.
She converted curies to becquerels.
The curie is a unit of activity.

Forms

curie · curies

Similar words

becquerel: One decay per second rather than thirty-seven billion.
sievert: Measures biological radiation effect rather than source activity.