Marie Curie. A woman. A revolutionary scientist. The discoverer of the radioactive elements Polonium and Radium that changed the course of the world's history. One of the most prominent scientists of the time and the first person ever to win not one but two Nobel prizes. “Madam” Maria Sklodowaska, later known as Marie Curie, was born on November 7th, 1867 in Warsaw. Her family called her by the nickname, Manya. Madame Curie’s childhood was not an easy one, her family were patriots and they suffered because of their pro-Polish beliefs.
Despite her excellent examination results, she had to discontinue her studies because girls were not admitted to Polish universities. She did not let this stop her though. With determination, she persisted. To support her family, especially her sister, Bronislawa who was a medical student in Paris, she had to give private lessons. In November 1891, Marie followed her sister to Paris. She studied Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics at Sorbonne University in Paris. Most of the courses there were taught in French, which she had to learn very quickly. She met her future husband and renowned scientist, Pierre Curie in Paris whom she got married to in 1895 and had two children. Marie and Pierre teamed up in search of a new element. They later discovered two radioactive elements named Polonium, named by Marie to honour her hometown and Radium, named after the Latin word for ‘ray’.
They also saw that Polonium was 300 times and Radium several million times more reactive than Uranium. The Curies also coined the term “Radioactivity”. In 1903 she got her PhD from the Sorbonne later and a few months later a Nobel Prize in Physics which she shared with her husband and the original discoverer of radioactivity. Later in life, she also received a Nobel prize in the field of Chemistry, making her the first and only person ever to win a Nobel Prize in both Chemistry and Physics.
She died on 4th July 1934 of aplastic anemia. It is believed to have been caused by her prolonged exposure to radium. She is considered one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century, her work helping other scientists and their research greatly. Despite carrying out her education in secret, working to support her family, she proved to be a highly respected and influential scientist in history.
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