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Birth
Marie Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland to Wladilaw and Bronislava Sklodowsa. She was the youngest of five children. -
Completed Education
Curie completed her legal education after secondary school. As girls could not get further education, she received her schooling privately and became associated with the "floating university" which is where students could go to learn more than could be taught in schools. -
Moving to Paris
After awhile Curie left Poland and moved in with her sister in Paris to study at Sorbonne. She studied the magnetic properties of various steel alloys. In Paris, she also met Pierre Curie who was studying at the University of Paris. -
Marrige
Pierre and Marie Currie are married. This led to an extraordinary partnership in scientific work. -
Discoveries About Radiation
The Curies began to study the recently discovered element uranium after publishing a paper on magnetization. They discovered that radiation is an atomic property. Marie also created the word "radiation" to describe their findings. Using the information they had found they later discovered two new elements, radium and polonium which was named after Marie Curie's home country, Poland. -
Marie and Pierre Curie Win the Nobel Prize
Marie and Pierre Curie won the Nobel Prize in 1903 for their work with radioactivity. This was some of the biggest recognition that they had received at this point in time. Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. This award was earned in the field of physics. -
Pierre Curie Dies
After many years of scientific partnership, Pierre Curie, Marie Curie's husband died. Marie continued with her studies alone and didn't stop helping make huge advances in science. -
Another Nobel Prize
Curie earned yet another Nobel Prize, this time in the area of chemistry. This award was earned for Marie Curie's continued work with radioactivity. While Pierre was no longer alive, Marie Curie kept going with her work and continued to win awards. -
X-Rays Used in Battle
After all of her research with radioactivity, Marie Curie helped in WWII by using x-rays to find bullets in injured soldiers and extract them. This technique helped save many soldiers' lives. -
Joining the Fight Against Cancer
Marie and her sister started a research facility to help fight cancer. Using her research about radioactivity from before, Marie Curie came up with many new ideas to attack this dreadful sickness. The facility is still opened today and is called the Marie Sklodowska Curie Oncology Center. -
Death
Due to being exposed to such large amounts of radiation for such long periods of time, Curie's body stopped producing enough blood cells for her to survive. Marie Curie will never be forgotten. Her work helped advance the medical world and save thousands of lives. -
