Marie Curie is a celebrated French Physicist who greatly contributed to the study of radioactivity.

Together with her husband Pierre Curie, she discovered the elements of polonium and radium. Marie

is hailed as one of the most influential female scientists who dedicated her life to her field. Marie's

dedication helped her to overcome great obstacles and become one of the most important researchers,

male or female, to have ever lived.

Marie Curie was born Marja Sklodowska in Warsaw Poland in 1867.The daughter of a physics

teacher (father) and the principle of an all girls school (mother), Marja excelled in school. However,

living in Russian controlled Poland did not encourage her to continue her education. Those of Polish

origin were not allowed to attend universities so Marja began to work. The money she earned she

used to pay for her sister’s education and saved whatever she could. Finally in 1891, with meager

savings in hand, Marja left Poland for France and enrolled at Sorbonne in Paris. Here, she changed

her name to Marie. She could barely scrape enough money together to cover her tuition and rent and

often went without food. Despite financial hardships, Marie earned a degree in Physics in 1893 and

graduated first in her class.

Studying at Sorbonne Marie was introduced and became friends with many scholars and

scientists. While at a fellow colleague’s house in 1894, Marie met Pierre Curie, a physicist and professor at the School for Chemistry and Physics in

Paris. Pierre had recently made a name for himself in the science world with his development of piezoelectricity in crystals and magnetism. The

couple immediately formed a close friendship that developed into true love. They were later married on July 26, 1895, after Pierre had received his

doctorate.

After receiving her degree, Marie had little inclination to what her next step would be. A close colleague by the name of Antoine Henri Bequerel

had recently discovered the natural emission of "uranium salts" during a process which would be later named natural radiation. Encouraged by

Bequerel,, both Marie and Pierre began work to discover other substances that emitted particle rays. Although Marie was the "mastermind" of the

project , Pierre gave up his teaching career and study of magnetism to aid his wife in her study. They began their research by examining uranium

ore called pitchblende which they found to be much more radioactive (a word which they coined) than uranium itself. In 1898, they discovered two

new elements: polonium (named by Marie after her native land) and radium. They found that radium seemed to be the most radioactive but it was

hard to conduct in depth studies because there was not enough radium to extract. In order to continue with their research, they spent their life savings

on the purchase of a ton of waste ore from local mines. They set up a small shack in their backyard and laborously refined the ore by hand until they

had extracted a fraction of a gram of radium to further their study. Although their project (which lasted four years) was very successful, it almost

proved to be too much for them. With the arrival of their daughter Irene, Marie became very ill from the birth in addition to their exhausting research.

All of their hard work was recognized when they shared the Nobel Prize with Bequerel in Physics for their work in the discovery of radiation and

the discovery of the elements polonium and radium. Pierre was made professor at Sobonne’s research lab and Marie was made the lab

superintendent. Pierre was also named a member of L'Academie Francaise in 1905. Marie however, did not receive this honor because women were

not recognized in the field of science. Tragically in 1906, Pierre was killed in a traffic accident. Marie immediately took over the instruction of

Pierre’s classes and she became the first woman to teach at Sorbonne.

Marie continued to conduct extensive reaerch on radium and radiation. She primarily studied the role of radiation in the treatment of illnesses

such as cancer. She also studied the use of radiation in x-ray technology. In 1911, she received another Nobel Prize in chemistry for this work and

her previous discovery of radium and polonium. She became the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize and the only person to have two Nobel

laureates in two different sciences. In 1914, she helped found the Paris Radium Institute which was later renamed to the Curie Institute.

Marie never stopped her research of radium therapy except during World War I to drive an ambulance. Marie lived rather comfortably off of the

prize money and other honorariums from different sources. This was necessary since she received no royalties from her discovery of polonium or

radium. It had been a mutual decision between her and her late husband not to undermine the scientific principles of their discovery by patenting the

elements. In 1934, Marie Curie developed leukemia due to her extended exposure to radioactivity. She died later that year.

Marie Curie was a groundbreaking scientist and researcher whose tireless efforts and curious inquiries led to some of the most important

discoveries in modern physics. The Curies' developments in radioactivity helped to develop the present day understanding of the atom upon which

modern nuclear physics is based. Unmatched in scientific intuition, Marie Curie overcame the obstacles of gender and economic means to become

one of the most influential scientists and researchers in modern science.