Marie Skłodowska Curie
Personal Information
Born: 1867
Died: 1934
Country of Birth: Poland
Nationality: Poland; France
Ethnicity: White
Education
Flying University (an underground university in Poland); University of Paris, undergraduate degrees in 1893 & 1894, Phd 1903
Professional Life
Field of Study: Physics; chemistry
Institution/Corporation: University of Paris; Ecole Normale Superieure; French Academy of Medicine; International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation
Degrees & Memberships: Numerous honorary degrees predominantly from schools in Europe; Memberships: Fellow of the French Academy of Medicine (1922), League of Nations International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (1922), International Atomics Weight Committee (1930),1st female member The Royal Danish Academy of Arts & Letters (1920), Iota Sigma Pi (1921), Polish Chemistry Society (1924)
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 1903, Nobel Prize in Physics (w/Pierre Curie & Henri Becquerel); 1911, Nobel Prize in Chemistry; 1995, 1st woman entombed on her own merits in the Paris Pantheon; 1903, Davy Medal (w/Pierre Curie); 1904, Matteucci Medal (w/Pierre Curie); 1907, Actonian Prize; 1909, Elliott Cresson Medal; 1910, Albert Medal; 1921, Willard Gibbs Award; 1931, Cameron Prize for Therapuetics of the University of Edinburgh; 1921, Franklin Medal, American Philosophical Society
Achievements: 1st woman to win a Nobel Prize; 1st person to win the Nobel Prize twice; only female to win Nobel prizes in 2 sciences; discovered polonium & radium in 1922 with husband Pierre; 1st married couple to win Nobel Prize; 1906, 1st woman to become a professor at the University of Paris; 1920, founded Curie Institute in Paris; 1932 founded Curie Institute in Warsaw; during WW1 developed mobile x-ray service to field hospitals; coined the word radioactivity; 1910, isolated pure radium metal; defined an international standard for radioactive emission (the curie); 1915, produced a hollow needle containing radon to sterilize infected tissue; element curium & 3 radioactive minerals are named after her
Many of her possessions (including her work notebooks & recipes) are still radioactive because she carried radioactive materials inher pockets, unaware of the negative effects at the time
1st female to win a Nobel Prize & only person to win Nobles in 2 different sciences
Named the element "polonium" after Poland, the country of her birth
Created & transported over 200 x-ray machines to field hospitals during WWI with her daughter Irene; they were known as petite curies
Due to her work, contracted radiation poisoning which eventually killed her
Carried out most of her work in a shed behind the school where her husband Pierre worked
Opened research centers in Paris & Warsaw
She & Irene are the only mother & daughter to win Nobels
Was reburied in The Pantheon (Paris' mausoleum for France's most revered dead) in 1995; 1st female awarded a place there for her own achievements
1906, 1st female professor at the Universite of Paris