Marie Curie (Maria Sklodowska) was born in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867. She was educated in local schools and began to receive scientific training from her father, Wladyslaw Sklodowski.
In 1891, she further pursued her career in sciences in Paris where she received the Licenciateships in Physics and the Mathematical Sciences. She met her future husband, Pierre Curie in 1894 and they were wed one year later. There strong unrest for magnetism brought them together. She earned her masters in Physics in 1894. Marie gained her Doctor of Science degree in 1903. After her husband, Pierre Curie's death in 1906, she took over his positions as Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences. This was the first time a woman held a position like this. Later on she became the Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute at the University of Paris. In 1911, Marie became a member of the Conseil du Physique Solvay till her death in 1934.
Henri Becquerel's work with radioactivity is what inspired Curie's research. This led to the isolation of polonium (named after Poland) and radium.
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| Henri Becquerel |
She passed away in Passey, France on July 4, 1934 due to aplastic anemia which is a blood disease that is due to overexposure to radiation.
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| Marie & her husband, Pierre |
Interesting Facts:
- Marie was the first person who won two Nobel Prizes. She was awarded the Noble Prize (along with her husband) for Physics in 1903 & the Noble Prize for Chemistry for her discovery of radium and polonium in 1911
- Both Pierre & her received the Davy Medal of the Royal Society in 1903
- Marie decided to work in with radioactivity because of a French physicist named Henri Becquerel's discovery of radioactivity
- In 1910 she isolated the pure radium metal
- She started the radium institute in Warsaw in 1932
