Born 7 November 1867 – Died 4 July 1934

Marie Curie was a Polish-born physicist and chemist and one of the most famous scientists of her time. Marie Sklodowska was born in Warsaw. In 1891, she went to Paris to study physics and mathematics at the Sorbonne where she met Pierre Curie, professor of the School of Physics. They were married in 1895. The Curies worked together investigating radioactivity, building on the work of the German physicist Roentgen and the French physicist Becquerel. In 1898, the Curies announced the discovery of the new chemical elements, polonium and radium. The Curies were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903. After Pierre’s death in 1906, Marie continued the work they had begun together and she received a second Nobel Prize, for Chemistry, in 1911. The Curies’ research was crucial in the development of x-rays in surgery. She died on 4 July 1934 from leukemia, caused by exposure to high-energy radiation from her research.