The trucks were known as ‘ petites Curies’ (little Curies).Īfter the war, Marie continued her research and teaching work. During the First World War, Marie also developed mobile X-ray units that she drove to field hospitals, to find the fractures, bullets and shrapnel in soldiers’ wounds. When doctors discovered radiation could kill cancer cells, new research centres opened under Marie’s direction. Then in 1911, she won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for creating a way to measure radioactivity –the first person (and only woman) to win the award in two disciplines. Despite her grief, Marie took over his role as Professor of Physics (the first woman teacher at the University of Paris). Three years later, Pierre was tragically run over by a carriage and killed. That same year she became the first woman in France to gain a PhD. When she, Pierre and Becquerel were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their work on radioactivity, Marie was the first woman to win the award. She and Pierre spent many hours grinding, dissolving, filtering and crystallising pitchblende and eventually isolated two highly radioactive substances – one they called polonium (after Marie’s homeland), the other radium (the Latin for ‘ray’). She realised another element must be present. Marie noticed that a mineral called pitchblende (containing uranium ore) was more radioactive than pure uranium. Marie was attracted to the work of two scientists in particular – Roentgen (who discovered X-rays) and Becquerel (who discovered rays given off by uranium). Marie became a physics teacher and the couple continued their research at night. The pair married in 1895 and went on to have two children together – Irene (1897) and Eve (1904). She began working at the same laboratory as Pierre Curie. As a woman, she couldn’t work at a Polish university, so she remained in France. But she kept studying, and gained a Maths degree the following year. Marie gained a Physics degree in 1893 and began working in a laboratory. From then on, she used the French spelling of her name – Marie. When Bronislawa became a doctor (unusual for women of the time), 24-year-old Maria moved to Paris to study, working as a tutor at night to get by. Maria became a governess to support herself, but she made a pact with her sister Bronislawa – Maria would pay for Bronislawa’s studies at the University of Paris and Bronislawa would then support Maria, too. Then her sister Zofia died from typhus, and, when Maria was just 10, her mother died from tuberculosis. Marie’s family fell on hard times when her father lost his job. Maria excelled at school, but Poland was under Russian rule – the Polish language was banned and women could not go to university. Her father was a science teacher and her mother a headmistress. Marie Curie was born Maria Sklodowska in 1867 in Warsaw, Poland – the youngest of five children. “I am among those who think that science has great beauty.” A Short Biography of Marie Curie “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.” They are stored in lead-lined boxes at the National Library of France. Marie Curie’s research papers are still highly radioactive – and will be for at least 1,500 years. Her husband Pierre won for Physics (1903), Marie and Pierre’s daughter Irene won for Chemistry (1935), and, finally, their son-in-law (Henry Labouisse Jr.) was director of UNICEF when it won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965. Marie Curie won for Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911). The Curie family won five Nobel Prizes between them. Discover more about this determined and dedicated lady, and use our printable resources below to test your findings. Marie lived at a time when women’s career opportunities were restricted, so her achievements were even more remarkable. Marie Curie (1867–1934) was a Polish scientist whose groundbreaking research on radioactivity won her two Nobel Prizes, and led to a revolutionary new treatment for cancer.
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