Marie Curie

Early life and education: Maria Salomea Skłodowska was born in Warsaw, in what was then the Russian partition of Poland, on 7 November 1867. After excelling in school but facing limited higher‑education opportunities for women in Poland, she moved to Paris in 1891 to study physics and mathematics at the Sorbonne (University of Paris), where she earned degrees and later a doctorate in physics. Scientific collaboration and discoveries: In Paris she met and married physicist Pierre Curie in 1895; they collaborated on experimental work into the recently discovered phenomenon of spontaneous radiation (radioactivity) following Henri Becquerel’s 1896 findings. Between 1898 and 1902 the Curies discovered two new elements — polonium (named for Marie’s native Poland) and radium — and developed methods for isolating and measuring radioactive substances, establishing radioactivity as a property of atoms rather than molecules. Recognition, tragedy, and continued work: Marie and Pierre Curie, together with Henri Becquerel, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for their work on radioactivity; Marie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize. Pierre died in a street accident in 1906; Marie continued their work, succeeded him as professor at the University of Paris, and expanded her research and institutional leadership. Later career, medical applications, and legacy: Marie won a second Nobel Prize (Chemistry) in 1911 for her isolation of radium and for developing techniques to isolate radioactive isotopes. During World War I she organized mobile radiography units (“Little Curies”) and promoted medical uses of X‑rays and radium for treatment of wounded soldiers and cancer patients. Her work laid foundations for modern nuclear physics, radiotherapy, and isotope chemistry, but long‑term exposure to radiation (not fully understood at the time) contributed to her declining health; she died on 4 July 1934.