Marie Curie - nee Sklodowska 1867 - 1934 - Famous Scientist 

(Source: Nuclear Museum)

Portrait of Marie Curie (1934). Source: Smithsonian Institution Archives Photographer unknown No known copyright restrictions

Introduction

Marie Curie nee Marya Salomee Sklodowska (pronounced: (sklaw DAWF skah) was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, part of the Russian Empire (now Poland). She was the daughter of school teachers and dedicated to learning. Marya was the youngest of five children: Zofia (born 1862), Józef (1863), Bronisława (1865), Helena (1866).

The five Sklodowski children.
From left to right: Zofia died of typhus;
Helena became an educator;
Marie, twice a Nobel laureate;
and Józef and Bronya, physicians.
“We all had much facility for intellectual work,” said Marie.
(photo ACJC)

Poland was an occupied and divided country throughout much of Marie Curie’s life. (See the map... the orange part is part of Poland)

When she was four years old one of her older sisters taught her the alphabet, and Marya learned how to read. In fact, she could read better than Bronislawa who had taught her. (Source: Marie Curie)

Marya experienced many tragedies in her life including the death of her eldest sister, Zofia (who died of typhus at 14) and the death of
her mother when she  was only 11.

Her family were progressive and committed to the education of women - something that was rare in those times.

Education

"She received a general education in local schools and some scientific training from her father. She became involved in a students' revolutionary organization and found it prudent to leave Warsaw, then in the part of Poland dominated by Russia, for Cracow, which at that time was under Austrian rule. [Her cousin headed a school in Warsaw in which Marya had her first experience of a laboratory. She knew then what she wanted to study, physics and chemistry.]

In 1891, she went to Paris to continue her studies at the Sorbonne where she obtained Licenciateships in Physics and the Mathematical Sciences. [Marie Curie was the first woman to graduate with a degree in Physics at the Sorbonne (a famous French university) in 1893, and received a second degree from the Sorbonne in 1894 in Mathematics. She was the first woman in France to earn a Doctoral Degree.] She met Pierre Curie, Professor in the School of Physics in 1894 and in the following year they were married.

She succeeded her husband as Head of the Physics Laboratory at the Sorbonne, gained her Doctor of Science degree in 1903, and following the tragic death of Pierre Curie in 1906, she took his place as Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences, the first time a woman had held this position. She was also appointed Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of Paris, founded in 1914." (Source: Nobel Prize in Physics 1903)

Although born in Poland, after coming to France to study Marie was also considered to be a French woman. She studied physics and discovered radioactivity and worked to expand our knowledge of radioactive materials. Her work resulted in the invention of the X-ray machine. She was the first person to ever win two Nobel prizes.

Opportunities & Experiences

When her mother died, her father thought that Marya should have a change of schools and this meant having good physics and Russian literature teachers. She then attended the "floating" university for young Polish women.

When Marie went to Paris, she had the good fortune to study under Gabriel Lippmann, who would win the Nobel Prize for physics in 1908. Another professor, Henri Poincare, was widely known as the greatest mathematician of his time and Marie studied under him.

Meeting Pierre Curie, another physicist who shared her vision. He became her husband and co-worker.

Marie Sklodowska Curie and her husband Pierre Curie experimented together and discovered two radioactive elements, polonium and radium. The discovery of these elements laid the foundation for future discoveries in nuclear physics and chemistry. Marie and Pierre worked four years to acquire a very small quantity of radium in order to prove there really was such an element. In 1903, Pierre and Marie along with Henri Becquerel received the Nobel Prize in physics for their work and their discovery of radioactivity. In 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry, for her work in radioactivity. She was the first person ever to win two Nobel Prizes and the only person ever to win Prizes in two sciences.

World War I - Service

“I am resolved to put all my strength at the service of my adopted country, since I cannot do anything for my unfortunate native country just now...” --letter from Marie Curie to Paul Langevin, January 1, 1915

When World War 1 broke out, she felt that X-rays would help locate shrapnel and bullets and facilitate surgery. As she thought that it was important not to move patients, she created X-ray vans! Marie devised advanced courses on radiology and taught doctors new techniques. The heavy casualties suffered by the French in World War I prompted Marie to participate in the war effort by making public pleas for funds to equip ambulances with radiology equipment. The funding effort was successful, and Marie was elected by the Red Cross to be the official head of its Radiological Service. With her daughter Irene, Marie devised advanced radiology courses and taught doctors & 150 nurses new techniques for locating foreign objects in the human body.

This “petite Curie,” which brought X-rays to the Front in World War I, was displayed in Paris in 1998 during the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the discovery of radium.

Marie Curie in her chemistry laboratory at the Radium Institute in France, April 1921. Source: Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands Photographer unknown No known copyright restrictions

Marie and daughter Irène with X-ray equipment at a military hospital. After training Irène as a radiologist for a year, Curie deemed her daughter capable of directing a battle-front radiological installation on her own. At the Radium Institute, Curie trained about 150 women in X-ray technology, including these radiology assistants with her near the front lines. (Source: Marie Curie & the Science of Radioactivity)

Links

Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity (detailed) or her story in brief (with interactive images)

Childhoods of Famous People
 
The American Institute of Polish Culture
  
Marie Curie
 
Marie & Pierre Curie and the Discovery of Polonium and Radium
  
Nobel Prize: Marie Curie

Nobel Prize: Marie Curie Biography

Marie Curie eTexts - actual writings of Marie Curie (detailed)

Pierre and Marie Curie and G. Bémont's announcement of radium (1898)

“Pierre Curie” by Marie Curie (1923)

Did You Know  Marie Curie was the FIRST woman to receive the Nobel Prize. She is the FIRST & ONLY person to receive a SECOND Nobel Prize. She was the FIRST woman to be a Professor at the Sorbonne in Paris (now the University of Paris) That her recipe books are so contaminated with radioactivity that they are kept in lead-lined boxes! Marie died on 4 July 1934, Sallanches, France at 67. Madame Curie died of leukemia (aplastic pernicious anemia), thought to have been brought on by exposure to the high levels of radiation involved in her research. After her death the Radium Institute was rename the Curie Institute in her honor. The year 2011 has been declared the Year of Marie Curie by France and Poland.

Material sourced from 
Marie Curie and the Science of Radioactivity (detailed) or her story in brief (with interactive images)
Childhoods of Famous People
The American Institute of Polish Culture
Marie Curie
Marie & Pierre Curie and the Discovery of Polonium and Radium
Nobel Prize: Marie Curie
Nuclear Museum
Marie Curie: Physicist 1867 - 1934
Marie Curie

Nuclear Power