The document discusses the discoveries of Marie and Pierre Curie in the late 1800s. They discovered the radioactive elements polonium and radium. Polonium is a silvery radioactive substance that was studied for heating spacecraft but found to be too unstable. Radium is pure white but oxidizes black over time, and has a half-life of 1601 years as it decays into radon gas. The passage also mentions that life is not easy for any of us, but we must believe we are talented at something and do everything possible to achieve it.