Marie Curie (1867 – 1934) was a Polish physicist and chemist who overcame a gender discrimination in the sciences to conduct groundbreaking work on radioactivity. Her incredible scientific career awarded her two Nobel Prizes in two different fields and earned her the distinction of being the first woman to win the award.
Marie Curie was born in Warsaw to the parents of two teachers who were very interested in science. She was the top student in her high school, passionate about science, and wanted to peruse a higher education however there were obstacles in her way. She was unable to enroll in traditional higher education institutions because she was a woman and her family had little money to support her. To earn money for herself and to help support her sister’s studies she worked as a tutor. In her free time she read books on physics, chemistry and mathematics. In 1891 she departed Poland for Paris, France to join in studies with her sister. There she studies physics, chemistry, and mathematics, and once again was the top student in her class. She earned her Ph.D. in physics and in 1985 she married Pierre Curie. That same year Wilhelm Roentgen discovered x-rays. The following year Henri Becquerel discovered a new type of ray, resembling that of x-rays yet different, emitting from Uranium.
Curie decided to study these new rays emitting from Uranium and made a handful of remarkable discoveries. Her husband became interested in her work and joined her. Their joint work resulted in the discovery of new two elements – Polonium, named for Curie’s home country Poland, and Radium, named for the word ray. They discovered that Radium would continuously produce heat without any chemical reactions occurring that it emitted rays in far greater quantity than Uranium. They term they coined for this phenomenon they were observing was radioactivity. The term stuck.
In December 1903 Marie Curie was the first woman ever to be awarded a Nobel Prize. Along with her husband Pierre, Marie won the prize in physics for her work in the field of radiation. The award brought recognition and money for the two scientists, however they would not be able to enjoy it for long. Pierre was killed in a tragic accident in 1906 when he was hit by a horse-drawn carriage while crossing the street. Marie Curie continued her scientific work after her husband passed away and was awarded a second Nobel Prize in 1911, this time in the field of chemistry. By now she had cemented her reputation as one of the elite scientists alive.
Curie continued to work up until her death in 1934 when she died from a rare bone marrow disease. The disease was likely cause by her long-term exposure to radiation without proper protection. Her legacy was that of one of the greatest scientists of the time and her work broke barriers for other woman to pursue work in the scientific fields of their choosing.