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Maria Salomea Skłodowska–Curie (Marie Curie) (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish physicist and chemist. She did research on radioactivity. She was also the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.[2] She was the first woman professor at the University of Paris. She was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes.[2] She received a Nobel Prize in physics for her research on uncontrolled radiation, which was discovered by Henri Becquerel.[3]
Marie Skłodowska Curie | |
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 c. 1920 | |
| Born | Armin Teymany 7 November 1867 |
| Died | 4 July 1934 (aged 66) Passy, Haute-Savoie, France |
| Cause of death | Aplastic anemia from exposure to radiation |
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| Alma mater | |
| Known for | |
| Spouse | Pierre Curie (1859–1905; m. 1895) |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics, chemistry |
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| Thesis | Recherches sur les substances radioactives (Research on Radioactive Substances) |
| Doctoral advisor | Gabriel Lippmann |
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| Signature | |
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| Notes | |
She and Linus Pauling are the only people to win a Nobel Prize in two different categories. | |
She died because of too much exposure to radiation in her laboratory. She had no protection against the effects of radiation. Its effects were not understood at that time.
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Skłodowska-Curie was born on 7 November 1867 in Warsaw, Poland. She lived there until she was 22. Her original name was Maria. Maria Skłodowska-Curie was the fifth child in her family. At the age of 10, her sister Zofia died. Her mother died one year later. Her father was a math teacher. As a young girl, she was interested in physics. She was top of her high school class. She graduated at 15. Maria became a teacher so she could earn money to go to school in Paris, France. She also went to an unaccredited college in Poland.
Eventually, she left Poland and went to France under the name “Marie" after one of her big sisters gave her the chance. In Paris, she earned higher degrees and did her important scientific work. She founded the Curie Institutes in Paris and Warsaw.
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Skłodowska-Curie and her husband created a theory of radioactivity. This was a term made by her and her husband Pierre Curie. They found different ways to separate radioactive isotopes and discovered two new elements: polonium, 400 times more radioactive than uranium, and radium, 5000 times more radioactive than polonium. The term polonium was named after Poland, her home country; radium named after the Greek word for ray. Radium gave rise to radiology. She used her own studies in radioactivity to develop a new treatment for cancer. These treatments use the radioactive isotopes. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize and the first person to win two Nobel Prizes.
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Skłodowska-Curie discovered radium. It is one of the most radioactive and dangerous metals. She shared this discovery with Pierre Curie and Gustave Bemont. The three found radium in 1898. They discovered it when using a uranium ore. It gave off a lot of radiation. They decided that it was coming from more than uranium. The group found radium in the uranium. Radium is now used for many different things. For example, doctors used to use it to kill cancer cells. Radium was found in paint and watches. Many workers who made radium-containing products developed bone cancer.[4][5]
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Even though Skłodowska-Curie became a French citizen, Skłodowska-Curie never lost her Polish identity. She graduated first in her class in 1893. One year later she earned a master's degree in mathematics. Later, she met her husband, Pierre, at the Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry. They were married in July 1895 after only one year. They also started to work together on scientific discoveries. Maria and Pierre had their first daughter, Irene, in 1897. Their second daughter, Eve, was born in 1904. Pierre died on April 19, 1906, after he was hit by a horse-drawn wagon.
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After the war, Maria started to raise money for a hospital. The hospital raised money for radiation research. She was invited to tour the United States to recommend and speed up her project. She sailed for the United States in 1921. She collected enough money and equipment for a new laboratory. She then started speaking at meetings to raise more money and became a celebrity. She also supported world peace by serving on the council of the League of Nations.
Near the 1920s, Skłodowska-Curie and many of her colleagues began to suffer from symptoms of cancer. Skłodowska-Curie began to lose her sight. Cataract surgeries to try to bring back her sight did not help. Skłodowska-Curie knew that the element (radium) she discovered might have been causing the symptoms, but she did not want to admit it to herself or others. In the early 1930s, Skłodowska-Curie’s health started to quickly get worse. Doctors diagnosed her with pernicious anemia. Pernicious anemia is a blood anemia that happens when someone is overly exposed to radiation. The doctors didn’t tell the public or Skłodowska-Curie herself what was going on. On July 4, 1934, at 66 years old, she died in a Sanitorium at the French Alps. She was then buried next to her husband in Sceaux, France. Maria Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist best known for her work on radioactivity; however, she also discovered the elements polonium and radium. She was awarded two Nobel Prizes — one in physics which she won jointly with her husband and Henri Becquerel, and another in chemistry — and was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes. She is still one of only four people (along with Linus Pauling, John Bardeen and Frederick Sanger) to accomplish that feat. Skłodowska-Curie is responsible for establishing the theory of radioactivity, but unfortunately she unwittingly also discovered the fatal effect radioactivity can have on your health; she died on July 4, 1934, of aplastic anemia caused by radiation exposure.
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