MARIE CURIE

 

Marie Curie                       Pierre Curie 

Marie Salomea Sklodowska Curie known simply as Marie Curie, a Polish and naturalized French scientist, was a pioneering physicist and chemist who made groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of radioactivity, a term she coined. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and remains the only person to have won Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields: Physics and Chemistry.

Born in Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland on 7 November 1867, then part of the Russian Empire, Marie moved to Paris for her higher studies where she met and married on 26 July 1895 Pierre Curie, a fellow scientist. In 1903 she shared with him the Nobel Prize in physics. In 1906 she became the first woman professor at the University of Paris. Together, they conducted revolutionary research on radioactive substances. The Curies' discovery of the elements radium and polonium on 21 December 1898 significantly advanced the new field of atomic physics.

After Pierre's untimely death, Curie continued their work. In 1911, she was awarded her second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, for her services to the advancement of chemistry through the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium, and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element.

In addition to her scientific achievements, Curie was deeply committed to the practical application of her research. During World War I, she established mobile radiography units, known as "Little Curies," to provide X-ray services to field hospitals, significantly improving medical care for wounded soldiers. Marie Curie died of aplastic anaemia likely from exposure to radiation on 4 July 1934 at 66.