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Where did Marie Curie grow up?
Marie Curie grew up in Warsaw, Poland where she was born on November 7, 1867. Her birth name was Maria Sklodowska, but her family called her Manya. Her parents were both teachers. Her dad taught math and physics and her mom was headmistress at a girl's school. Marie was the youngest of five children.
Growing up the child of two teachers, Marie was taught to read and write early. She was a very bright child and did well in school. She had a sharp memory and worked hard on her studies. -
Tough Times in Poland
Marie Curie's early life in Russian-controlled Poland was marked by hardship, including family loss and economic struggles. Despite societal barriers to women's education, she aspired to study, making a pact with her sister to support each other's education. This determination propelled her to become one of history's most renowned scientists, exemplifying the power of perseverance and ambition. -
School in France
Marie Curie supported her sister through medical school for six years before moving to France to study at the Sorbonne in 1891. Immersing herself in math and physics, she swiftly earned her degree within three years. In 1894, she met Pierre Curie, a fellow scientist, sparking a romance that led to marriage and a collaborative partnership in both science and love. -
Scientific Discoveries
Marie became fascinated by rays that were recently discovered by scientists Wilhelm Roentgen and Henri Becquerel. Roentgen discovered X-rays and Becquerel had found rays given off by an element called uranium. Marie began to do experiments.
One day Marie was examining a material called pitchblende. She expected there to be a few rays from the uranium in pitchblende, but instead Marie found a lot of rays. She soon realized that there must be a new, undiscovered element in pitchblende. -
New Elements
Marie and her husband spent many hours in the science lab investigating pitchblende and the new element. They eventually figured out that there were two new elements in pitchblende. They had discovered two new elements for the periodic table!
Marie named one of the elements polonium after her homeland Poland. She named the other radium, because it gave off such strong rays. The Curies came up with the term "radioactivity" to describe elements that emitted strong rays -
First Nobel Prizes
In 1903, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marie and Pierre Curie as well as Henri Becquerel for their work in radiation. Marie became the first woman to be awarded the prize. -
Second nobel prize
In 1911 Marie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the two elements, polonium and radium. She was the first person to be awarded two Nobel Prizes. Marie became very famous. Scientists came from around the world to study radioactivity with Marie. Soon doctors found that radiology could help with curing cancer -
World War I
When World War I started Marie learned that doctors could use X-rays to help determine what was wrong with an injured soldier. However, there weren't enough X-ray machines for every hospital to have one. She came up with the idea that the X-ray machines could move from hospital to hospital in a truck. Marie even helped to train people to run the machines. The trucks became known as petites Curies, meaning "little Curies" and are thought to have helped over 1 million soldiers during the war. -
Death
Marie died on July 4, 1934. She died from overexposure to radiation, both from her experiments and from her work with X-ray machines. Today there are lots of safety measures to keep scientists from getting overexposed to the rays.