Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and the only woman to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Her husband, Pierre Curie, was a co-winner of her first Nobel Prize, making them the first-ever married couple to win the Nobel Prize and launching the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. She was, in 1906, the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris. She was born in Warsaw, in what was then the Kingdom of Poland, part of the Russian Empire. She studied at Warsaw's clandestine Flying University and began her practical scientific training in Warsaw. In 1891, aged 24, she followed her elder sister Bronisława to study in Paris, where she earned her higher degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work. In 1895 she married the French physicist Pierre Curie, and she shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with him and with the physicist Henri Becquerel for their pioneering work developing the theory of "radioactivity"—a term she coined. In 1906 Pierre Curie died in a Paris street accident. Marie won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of the elements polonium and radium, using techniques she invented for isolating radioactive isotopes. Under her direction, the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms by the use of radioactive isotopes. She founded the Curie Institute in Paris in 1920, and the Curie Institute in Warsaw in 1932; both remain major medical research centres. During World War I she developed mobile radiography units to provide X-ray services to field hospitals. While a French citizen, Marie Skłodowska Curie, who used both surnames, never lost her sense of Polish identity. She taught her daughters the Polish language and took them on visits to Poland. She named the first chemical element she discovered ''polonium'', after her native country. Marie Curie died in 1934, aged 66, at the sanatorium in

Passy Passy () is an area of Paris, France, located in the 16th arrondissement, on the Right Bank. It is home to many of the city's wealthiest residents. Passy was a commune on the outskirts of Paris. In 1658, hot springs were discovered around whic ...

(), France, of

aplastic anemia Aplastic anemia is a cancer in which the body fails to make blood cells in sufficient numbers. Blood cells are produced in the bone marrow by stem cells that reside there. Aplastic anemia causes a deficiency of all blood cell types: red blood ...

likely from exposure to radiation in the course of her scientific research and in the course of her radiological work at field hospitals during World War I. In addition to her Nobel Prizes, she has received numerous other honours and tributes; in 1995 she became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Paris , and Poland declared 2011 the Year of Marie Curie during the

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...

in the Russian Empire, on 7 November 1867, the fifth and youngest child of well-known teachers Bronisława, ''née'' Boguska, and Władysław Skłodowski. The elder siblings of Maria ( nicknamed ''Mania'') were Zofia (born 1862, nicknamed ''Zosia''), (born 1863, nicknamed ''Józio''), Bronisława (born 1865, nicknamed ''Bronia'') and

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer *Helena, mother of Constantine I Places Greece * Helena (island) Guyana * ...

(born 1866, nicknamed ''Hela''). On both the paternal and maternal sides, the family had lost their property and fortunes through patriotic involvements in Polish national uprisings aimed at restoring Poland's independence (the most recent had been the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

of 1863–65). This condemned the subsequent generation, including Maria and her elder siblings, to a difficult struggle to get ahead in life. Maria's paternal grandfather, , had been principal of the

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

primary school attended by Bolesław Prus, who became a leading figure in Polish literature. Władysław Skłodowski taught mathematics and physics, subjects that Maria was to pursue, and was also director of two Warsaw '' gymnasia'' (secondary schools) for boys. After Russian authorities eliminated laboratory instruction from the Polish schools, he brought much of the laboratory equipment home and instructed his children in its use. He was eventually fired by his Russian supervisors for pro-Polish sentiments and forced to take lower-paying posts; the family also lost money on a bad investment and eventually chose to supplement their income by lodging boys in the house. Maria's mother Bronisława operated a prestigious Warsaw boarding school for girls; she resigned from the position after Maria was born. She died of tuberculosis in May 1878, when Maria was ten years old. Less than three years earlier, Maria's oldest sibling, Zofia, had died of typhus contracted from a boarder. Maria's father was an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, her mother a devout Catholic. The deaths of Maria's mother and sister caused her to give up Catholicism and become

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

Maria Sklodowska et sa sœur Bronislawa en 1886

When she was ten years old, Maria began attending the boarding school of J. Sikorska; next, she attended a '' gymnasium'' for girls, from which she graduated on 12 June 1883 with a gold medal. After a collapse, possibly due to depression, she spent the following year in the countryside with relatives of her father, and the next year with her father in Warsaw, where she did some tutoring. Unable to enroll in a regular institution of higher education because she was a woman, she and her sister Bronisława became involved with the clandestine Flying University (sometimes translated as ''Floating University''), a Polish patriotic institution of higher learning that admitted women students. Krakowskie Przedmiescie, Warsaw

Maria made an agreement with her sister, Bronisława, that she would give her financial assistance during Bronisława's medical studies in Paris, in exchange for similar assistance two years later. In connection with this, Maria took a position first as a home tutor in Warsaw, then for two years as a

governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...

in Szczuki with a landed family, the Żorawskis, who were relatives of her father. While working for the latter family, she fell in love with their son,

Kazimierz Żorawski Kazimierz Żorawski (June 22, 1866 – January 23, 1953) was a Polish mathematician. His work earned him an honored place in mathematics alongside such Polish mathematicians as Wojciech Brudzewski, Jan Brożek (Broscius), Nicolas Copernicus, S ...

, a future eminent mathematician. His parents rejected the idea of his marrying the penniless relative, and Kazimierz was unable to oppose them. Maria's loss of the relationship with Żorawski was tragic for both. He soon earned a doctorate and pursued an academic career as a mathematician, becoming a professor and

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

Kraków University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

. Still, as an old man and a mathematics professor at the

Warsaw Polytechnic The Warsaw University of Technology ( pl, Politechnika Warszawska, lit=Varsovian Polytechnic) is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professor ...

, he would sit contemplatively before the statue of Maria Skłodowska that had been erected in 1935 before the Radium Institute, which she had founded in 1932. At the beginning of 1890, Bronisława—who a few months earlier had married Kazimierz Dłuski, a Polish physician and social and political activist—invited Maria to join them in Paris. Maria declined because she could not afford the university tuition; it would take her a year and a half longer to gather the necessary funds. She was helped by her father, who was able to secure a more lucrative position again. All that time she continued to educate herself, reading books, exchanging letters, and being tutored herself. In early 1889 she returned home to her father in Warsaw. She continued working as a governess and remained there until late 1891. She tutored, studied at the Flying University, and began her practical scientific training (1890–91) in a chemical laboratory at the

Museum of Industry and Agriculture The Museum of Industry and Agriculture ( pl, Muzeum Przemysłu i Rolnictwa) is a former museum of technology and agriculture at 66, ''Krakowskie Przedmieście'' in Warsaw, Poland. History It was founded in 1866 on the initiative of Jan Tadeusz Lu ...

at '' Krakowskie Przedmieście'' 66, near

Warsaw's Old Town Warsaw Old Town ( pl, Stare Miasto, italic=yes and colloquially as ''Starówka'') is the oldest part of Warsaw, the capital city of Poland. It is bounded by the ''Wybrzeże Gdańskie'' (Gdańsk Boulevards), along with the bank of the Vistula river, ...

. The laboratory was run by her cousin Józef Boguski, who had been an assistant in Saint Petersburg to the Russian chemist

Dmitri Mendeleev Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (sometimes transliterated as Mendeleyev or Mendeleef) ( ; russian: links=no, Дмитрий Иванович Менделеев, tr. , ; 8 February Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._27_January.html" ;"title="O ...

Life in Paris

In late 1891, she left Poland for France. In Paris, Maria (or Marie, as she would be known in France) briefly found shelter with her sister and brother-in-law before renting a garret closer to the university, in the Latin Quarter, and proceeding with her studies of physics, chemistry, and mathematics at the University of Paris, where she enrolled in late 1891. She subsisted on her meagre resources, keeping herself warm during cold winters by wearing all the clothes she had. She focused so hard on her studies that she sometimes forgot to eat. Skłodowska studied during the day and tutored evenings, barely earning her keep. In 1893, she was awarded a degree in physics and began work in an industrial laboratory of Gabriel Lippmann. Meanwhile, she continued studying at the University of Paris and with the aid of a fellowship she was able to earn a second degree in 1894. Skłodowska had begun her scientific career in Paris with an investigation of the magnetic properties of various steels, commissioned by the

Society for the Encouragement of National Industry A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...

. That same year, Pierre Curie entered her life: it was their mutual interest in natural sciences that drew them together. Pierre Curie was an instructor at

The City of Paris Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution ESPCI Paris (officially the École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la Ville de Paris; ''The City of Paris Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution'') is a prestigious grande école founded in 1882 by ...

(ESPCI Paris). They were introduced by Polish physicist

Józef Wierusz-Kowalski Józef Wierusz-Kowalski (16 March 1866 - 30 November 1927) was a Polish physicist and diplomat. He discovered the phenomenon of progressive phosphorescence. He served as Rector of the University of Freiburg, and helped to establish the section for ...

, who had learned that she was looking for a larger laboratory space, something that Wierusz-Kowalski thought Pierre could access. Though Curie did not have a large laboratory, he was able to find some space for Skłodowska where she was able to begin work. Their mutual passion for science brought them increasingly closer, and they began to develop feelings for one another. Eventually, Pierre proposed marriage, but at first Skłodowska did not accept as she was still planning to go back to her native country. Curie, however, declared that he was ready to move with her to Poland, even if it meant being reduced to teaching French. Meanwhile, for the 1894 summer break, Skłodowska returned to Warsaw, where she visited her family. She was still labouring under the illusion that she would be able to work in her chosen field in Poland, but she was denied a place at

because of

sexism in academia Sexism in academia refers to the discrimination and subordination of a particular sex or gender academic institutions, particularly universities, due to the ideologies, practices, and reinforcements that privilege one sex or gender over another. ...

. A letter from Pierre convinced her to return to Paris to pursue a Ph.D. At Skłodowska's insistence, Curie had written up his research on

magnetism Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles ...

and received his own doctorate in March 1895; he was also promoted to professor at the School. A contemporary quip would call Skłodowska "Pierre's biggest discovery". On 26 July 1895, they were married in Sceaux; neither wanted a religious service. Curie's dark blue outfit, worn instead of a bridal gown, would serve her for many years as a laboratory outfit. They shared two pastimes: long bicycle trips and journeys abroad, which brought them even closer. In Pierre, Marie had found a new love, a partner, and a scientific collaborator on whom she could depend.

New elements

In 1895,

Wilhelm Röntgen Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (; ; 27 March 184510 February 1923) was a German mechanical engineer and physicist, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an achiev ...

discovered the existence of X-rays, though the mechanism behind their production was not yet understood. In 1896, Henri Becquerel discovered that uranium salts emitted rays that resembled X-rays in their penetrating power. He demonstrated that this radiation, unlike phosphorescence, did not depend on an external source of energy but seemed to arise spontaneously from uranium itself. Influenced by these two important discoveries, Curie decided to look into uranium rays as a possible field of research for a thesis. She used an innovative technique to investigate samples. Fifteen years earlier, her husband and his brother had developed a version of the electrometer, a sensitive device for measuring electric charge. Using her husband's electrometer, she discovered that uranium rays caused the air around a sample to conduct electricity. Using this technique, her first result was the finding that the activity of the uranium compounds depended only on the quantity of uranium present. She

hypothesized A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obser ...

that the radiation was not the outcome of some interaction of molecules but must come from the atom itself. This hypothesis was an important step in disproving the assumption that atoms were indivisible. In 1897, her daughter Irène was born. To support her family, Curie began teaching at the École Normale Supérieure. The Curies did not have a dedicated laboratory; most of their research was carried out in a converted shed next to ESPCI. The shed, formerly a medical school dissecting room, was poorly ventilated and not even waterproof. They were unaware of the deleterious effects of

radiation exposure Radiation is a moving form of energy, classified into ionizing and non-ionizing type. Ionizing radiation is further categorized into electromagnetic radiation (without matter) and particulate radiation (with matter). Electromagnetic radiation con ...

attendant on their continued unprotected work with radioactive substances. ESPCI did not sponsor her research, but she would receive subsidies from metallurgical and mining companies and from various organizations and governments. Curie's systematic studies included two uranium minerals, pitchblende and torbernite (also known as chalcolite). Her electrometer showed that pitchblende was four times as active as uranium itself, and chalcolite twice as active. She concluded that, if her earlier results relating the quantity of uranium to its activity were correct, then these two minerals must contain small quantities of another substance that was far more active than uranium. She began a systematic search for additional substances that emit radiation, and by 1898 she discovered that the element thorium was also radioactive. Pierre Curie was increasingly intrigued by her work. By mid-1898 he was so invested in it that he decided to drop his work on crystals and to join her. Marie Pierre Irene Curie

She was acutely aware of the importance of promptly publishing her discoveries and thus establishing her priority. Had not Becquerel, two years earlier, presented his discovery to the '' Académie des Sciences'' the day after he made it, credit for the discovery of radioactivity (and even a Nobel Prize), would instead have gone to

Silvanus Thompson Silvanus Phillips Thompson (19 June 1851 – 12 June 1916) was a professor of physics at the City and Guilds Technical College in Finsbury, England. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1891 and was known for his work as an electrical eng ...

. Curie chose the same rapid means of publication. Her paper, giving a brief and simple account of her work, was presented for her to the ''Académie'' on 12 April 1898 by her former professor, Gabriel Lippmann. Even so, just as Thompson had been beaten by Becquerel, so Curie was beaten in the race to tell of her discovery that thorium gives off rays in the same way as uranium; two months earlier,

Gerhard Carl Schmidt Gerhard Carl Schmidt (5 July 1865 – 16 October 1949) was a German chemist. Life Schmidt was born in London to German parents. He studied chemistry and in 1890 received his PhD for work with Georg Wilhelm August Kahlbaum. In 1898, two months ...

had published his own finding in Berlin. At that time, no one else in the world of physics had noticed what Curie recorded in a sentence of her paper, describing how much greater were the activities of pitchblende and chalcolite than uranium itself: "The fact is very remarkable, and leads to the belief that these minerals may contain an element which is much more active than uranium." She later would recall how she felt "a passionate desire to verify this hypothesis as rapidly as possible." On 14 April 1898, the Curies optimistically weighed out a 100-gram sample of pitchblende and ground it with a pestle and mortar. They did not realize at the time that what they were searching for was present in such minute quantities that they would eventually have to process tonnes of the ore. In July 1898, Curie and her husband published a joint paper announcing the existence of an element they named " polonium", in honour of her native Poland, which would for another twenty years remain partitioned among three empires ( Russian,

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

, and Prussian). On 26 December 1898, the Curies announced the existence of a second element, which they named " radium", from the Latin word for "ray". In the course of their research, they also coined the word " radioactivity". To prove their discoveries beyond any doubt, the Curies sought to isolate polonium and radium in pure form. Pitchblende is a complex mineral; the chemical separation of its constituents was an arduous task. The discovery of polonium had been relatively easy; chemically it resembles the element bismuth, and polonium was the only bismuth-like substance in the ore. Radium, however, was more elusive; it is closely related chemically to

barium Barium is a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element. Th ...

, and pitchblende contains both elements. By 1898 the Curies had obtained traces of radium, but appreciable quantities, uncontaminated with barium, were still beyond reach. The Curies undertook the arduous task of separating out radium salt by differential

crystallization Crystallization is the process by which solid forms, where the atoms or molecules are highly organized into a structure known as a crystal. Some ways by which crystals form are precipitating from a solution, freezing, or more rarely deposi ...

. From a tonne of pitchblende, one-tenth of a gram of radium chloride was separated in 1902. In 1910, she isolated pure radium metal. She never succeeded in isolating polonium, which has a half-life of only 138 days. Between 1898 and 1902, the Curies published, jointly or separately, a total of 32 scientific papers, including one that announced that, when exposed to radium, diseased, tumour-forming cells were destroyed faster than healthy cells. In 1900, Curie became the first woman faculty member at the École Normale Supérieure and her husband joined the faculty of the University of Paris. In 1902 she visited Poland on the occasion of her father's death. In June 1903, supervised by Gabriel Lippmann, Curie was awarded her doctorate from the University of Paris. That month the couple were invited to the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

in London to give a speech on radioactivity; being a woman, she was prevented from speaking, and Pierre Curie alone was allowed to. Meanwhile, a new industry began developing, based on radium. The Curies did not patent their discovery and benefited little from this increasingly profitable business.

Nobel Prizes

In December 1903 the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

awarded Pierre Curie, Marie Curie, and Henri Becquerel the Nobel Prize in Physics, "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...

phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel." At first the committee had intended to honour only Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel, but a committee member and advocate for women scientists, Swedish mathematician

Magnus Gösta Mittag-Leffler Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

, alerted Pierre to the situation, and after his complaint, Marie's name was added to the nomination. Marie Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize. Curie and her husband declined to go to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

to receive the prize in person; they were too busy with their work, and Pierre Curie, who disliked public ceremonies, was feeling increasingly ill. As Nobel laureates were required to deliver a lecture, the Curies finally undertook the trip in 1905. The award money allowed the Curies to hire their first laboratory assistant. Following the award of the Nobel Prize, and galvanized by an offer from the University of Geneva, which offered Pierre Curie a position, the University of Paris gave him a professorship and the chair of physics, although the Curies still did not have a proper laboratory. Upon Pierre Curie's complaint, the University of Paris relented and agreed to furnish a new laboratory, but it would not be ready until 1906. Pierre and Marie Curie Vanity Fair 1904-12-22

Pierre and Marie Curie Vanity Fair 1904-12-22

In December 1904, Curie gave birth to their second daughter, Ève. She hired Polish governesses to teach her daughters her native language, and sent or took them on visits to Poland. On 19 April 1906, Pierre Curie was killed in a road accident. Walking across the

Rue Dauphine Rue Dauphine is a street in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is one of the most fashionable and expensive districts of Paris. It was named after the Dauphin, son of Henry IV of France. The Pont Neuf crosses ...

in heavy rain, he was struck by a

horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...

and fell under its wheels, fracturing his skull and killing him instantly. Curie was devastated by her husband's death. On 13 May 1906 the physics department of the University of Paris decided to retain the chair that had been created for her late husband and offer it to Marie. She accepted it, hoping to create a world-class laboratory as a tribute to her husband Pierre. She was the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris. Curie's quest to create a new laboratory did not end with the University of Paris, however. In her later years, she headed the Radium Institute (''Institut du radium'', now Curie Institute, ''Institut Curie''), a radioactivity laboratory created for her by the Pasteur Institute and the University of Paris. The initiative for creating the Radium Institute had come in 1909 from

Pierre Paul Émile Roux Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, director of the Pasteur Institute, who had been disappointed that the University of Paris was not giving Curie a proper laboratory and had suggested that she move to the Pasteur Institute. Only then, with the threat of Curie leaving, did the University of Paris relent, and eventually the Curie Pavilion became a joint initiative of the University of Paris and the Pasteur Institute. 1911 Solvay conference

In 1910 Curie succeeded in isolating radium; she also defined an international standard for radioactive emissions that was eventually named for her and Pierre: the

curie In computing, a CURIE (or ''Compact URI'') defines a generic, abbreviated syntax for expressing Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). It is an abbreviated URI expressed in a compact syntax, and may be found in both XML and non-XML grammars. A CURIE ...

. Nevertheless, in 1911 the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

failed, by one or two votes, to elect her to membership in the academy. Elected instead was Édouard Branly, an inventor who had helped

Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...

develop the wireless telegraph. It was only over half a century later, in 1962, that a doctoral student of Curie's, Marguerite Perey, became the first woman elected to membership in the academy. Despite Curie's fame as a scientist working for France, the public's attitude tended toward xenophobia—the same that had led to the Dreyfus affair—which also fuelled false speculation that Curie was Jewish. During the French Academy of Sciences elections, she was vilified by the right-wing press as a foreigner and atheist. Her daughter later remarked on the French press's hypocrisy in portraying Curie as an unworthy foreigner when she was nominated for a French honour, but portraying her as a French heroine when she received foreign honours such as her Nobel Prizes. In 1911 it was revealed that Curie was involved in a year-long affair with physicist Paul Langevin, a former student of Pierre Curie's, a married man who was estranged from his wife. This resulted in a press scandal that was exploited by her academic opponents. Curie (then in her mid-40s) was five years older than Langevin and was misrepresented in the tabloids as a foreign Jewish home-wrecker. When the scandal broke, she was away at a conference in Belgium; on her return, she found an angry mob in front of her house and had to seek refuge, with her daughters, in the home of her friend, Camille Marbo. Marie Skłodowska-Curie's Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1911

Marie Skłodowska-Curie's Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1911

International recognition for her work had been growing to new heights, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, overcoming opposition prompted by the Langevin scandal, honoured her a second time, with the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. This award was "in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element." Because of the negative publicity due to her affair with Langevin, the chair of the Nobel committee, Svante Arrhenius, attempted to prevent her attendance at the official ceremony for her Nobel Prize in Chemistry, citing her questionable moral standing. Curie replied that she would be present at the ceremony, because "the prize has been given to her for her discovery of polonium and radium" and that "there is no relation between her scientific work and the facts of her private life". She was the first person to win or share two Nobel Prizes, and remains alone with

Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling (; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific top ...

as Nobel laureates in two fields each. A delegation of celebrated Polish men of learning, headed by novelist

Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish writer, novelist, journalist and Nobel Prize laureate. He is best remembered for his historical novels, especi ...

, encouraged her to return to Poland and continue her research in her native country. Curie's second Nobel Prize enabled her to persuade the French government to support the Radium Institute, built in 1914, where research was conducted in chemistry, physics, and medicine. A month after accepting her 1911 Nobel Prize, she was hospitalised with depression and a kidney ailment. For most of 1912, she avoided public life but did spend time in England with her friend and fellow physicist, Hertha Ayrton. She returned to her laboratory only in December, after a break of about 14 months. In 1912 the Warsaw Scientific Society offered her the directorship of a new laboratory in Warsaw but she declined, focusing on the developing Radium Institute to be completed in August 1914, and on a new street named Rue Pierre-Curie. She was appointed Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of Paris, founded in 1914. She visited Poland in 1913 and was welcomed in Warsaw but the visit was mostly ignored by the Russian authorities. The institute's development was interrupted by the coming war, as most researchers were drafted into the French Army, and it fully resumed its activities in 1919.

World War I

During World War I, Curie recognised that wounded soldiers were best served if operated upon as soon as possible. She saw a need for field radiological centres near the front lines to assist battlefield surgeons, including to obviate amputations when in fact limbs could be saved. After a quick study of radiology, anatomy, and automotive mechanics she procured X-ray equipment, vehicles, auxiliary generators, and developed mobile radiography units, which came to be popularly known as ''petites Curies'' ("Little Curies"). She became the director of the Red Cross Radiology Service and set up France's first military radiology centre, operational by late 1914. Assisted at first by a military doctor and her 17-year-old daughter Irène, Curie directed the installation of 20 mobile radiological vehicles and another 200 radiological units at field hospitals in the first year of the war. Later, she began training other women as aides. In 1915, Curie produced hollow needles containing "radium emanation", a colourless, radioactive gas given off by radium, later identified as radon, to be used for sterilizing infected tissue. She provided the radium from her own one-gram supply. It is estimated that over a million wounded soldiers were treated with her X-ray units. Busy with this work, she carried out very little scientific research during that period. In spite of all her humanitarian contributions to the French war effort, Curie never received any formal recognition of it from the French government. Also, promptly after the war started, she attempted to donate her gold Nobel Prize medals to the war effort but the French National Bank refused to accept them. She did buy war bonds, using her Nobel Prize money. She said:She was also an active member in committees of Polonia in France dedicated to the Polish cause. After the war, she summarized her wartime experiences in a book, ''Radiology in War'' (1919).

Postwar years

In 1920, for the 25th anniversary of the discovery of radium, the French government established a stipend for her; its previous recipient was

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named afte ...

(1822–95). In 1921, she was welcomed triumphantly when she toured the United States to raise funds for research on radium. Mrs. William Brown Meloney, after interviewing Curie, created a ''Marie Curie Radium Fund'' and raised money to buy radium, publicising her trip. In 1921, U.S. President Warren G. Harding received her at the White House to present her with the 1 gram of radium collected in the United States, and the First Lady praised her as an example of a professional achiever who was also a supportive wife. Before the meeting, recognising her growing fame abroad, and embarrassed by the fact that she had no French official distinctions to wear in public, the French government offered her a Legion of Honour award, but she refused. In 1922 she became a fellow of the

French Academy of Medicine French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

. She also travelled to other countries, appearing publicly and giving lectures in Belgium, Brazil, Spain, and Czechoslovakia. Irene and Marie Curie 1925

Led by Curie, the Institute produced four more Nobel Prize winners, including her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie and her son-in-law, Frédéric Joliot-Curie. Eventually it became one of the world's four major radioactivity-research laboratories, the others being the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

, with Ernest Rutherford; the

Institute for Radium Research, Vienna The Institute for Radium Research is an Austrian research institute associated with the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna. The Institute's researchers won multiple Nobel Prizes. Due to the gradual change of interests, "nuclear physics" was a ...

, with Stefan Meyer; and the

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science (German: ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften'') was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by ...

, with Otto Hahn and

Lise Meitner Elise Meitner ( , ; 7 November 1878 – 27 October 1968) was an Austrian-Swedish physicist who was one of those responsible for the discovery of the element protactinium and nuclear fission. While working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute on rad ...

. In August 1922 Marie Curie became a member of the League of Nations' newly created

International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation The International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, sometimes League of Nations Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, was an advisory organization for the League of Nations which aimed to promote international exchange between scientists, r ...

. She sat on the committee until 1934 and contributed to League of Nations' scientific coordination with other prominent researchers such as Albert Einstein,

Hendrik Lorentz Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (; 18 July 1853 – 4 February 1928) was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect. He also derived the Lorentz t ...

, and

Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopherHenri Bergson. 2014. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 13 August 2014, from https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/61856/Henri-Bergson

. In 1923 she wrote a biography of her late husband, titled ''Pierre Curie''. In 1925 she visited Poland to participate in a ceremony laying the foundations for Warsaw's Radium Institute. Her second American tour, in 1929, succeeded in equipping the Warsaw Radium Institute with radium; the Institute opened in 1932, with her sister Bronisława its director. These distractions from her scientific labours, and the attendant publicity, caused her much discomfort but provided resources for her work. In 1930 she was elected to the International Atomic Weights Committee, on which she served until her death. In 1931, Curie was awarded the

Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh The Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh is awarded by the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine to a person who has made any highly important and valuable addition to Practical Therapeutics in the previous five ye ...

Death

Curie visited Poland for the last time in early 1934. A few months later, on 4 July 1934, she died aged 66 at the

Sancellemoz Sancellemoz is a sanatorium in the town of Passy, in Haute-Savoie, eastern France. Professor Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and natur ...

sanatorium in

Passy, Haute-Savoie Passy () is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is part of the urban area of Sallanches.aplastic anemia Aplastic anemia is a cancer in which the body fails to make blood cells in sufficient numbers. Blood cells are produced in the bone marrow by stem cells that reside there. Aplastic anemia causes a deficiency of all blood cell types: red blood ...

believed to have been contracted from her long-term exposure to radiation, causing damage to her bone marrow. The damaging effects of ionising radiation were not known at the time of her work, which had been carried out without the safety measures later developed. She had carried test tubes containing radioactive isotopes in her pocket, and she stored them in her desk drawer, remarking on the faint light that the substances gave off in the dark. Curie was also exposed to X-rays from unshielded equipment while serving as a radiologist in field hospitals during the war. In fact, when Curie's body was exhumed in 1995, the French ''Office de Protection contre les Rayonnements Ionisants'' (''ORPI'') "concluded that she could not have been exposed to lethal levels of radium while she was alive". They pointed out that radium poses a risk only if it is ingested, and speculated that her illness was more likely to have been due to her use of radiography during the First World War. She was interred at the cemetery in Sceaux, alongside her husband Pierre. Sixty years later, in 1995, in honour of their achievements, the remains of both were transferred to the Paris Panthéon. Their remains were sealed in a lead lining because of the radioactivity. She became the second woman to be interred at the Panthéon (after

Sophie Berthelot Sophie Caroline Berthelot ( née Niaudet; February 17, 1837 – March 18, 1907)Acte de mariage du 10 mai 1861, Paris. . became the first woman to be interred in the Panthéon, alongside her husband Marcellin Berthelot. She was the only woman int ...

) and the first woman to be honoured with interment in the Panthéon on her own merits. Because of their levels of radioactive contamination, her papers from the 1890s are considered too dangerous to handle. Even her cookbooks are highly radioactive. Her papers are kept in lead-lined boxes, and those who wish to consult them must wear protective clothing. In her last year, she worked on a book, ''Radioactivity'', which was published posthumously in 1935.

Legacy

Lublin UMCS Pomnik Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej

The physical and societal aspects of the Curies' work contributed to shaping the world of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Cornell University professor Williams observes: If Curie's work helped overturn established ideas in physics and chemistry, it has had an equally profound effect in the societal sphere. To attain her scientific achievements, she had to overcome barriers, in both her native and her adoptive country, that were placed in her way because she was a woman. This aspect of her life and career is highlighted in Françoise Giroud's ''Marie Curie: A Life'', which emphasizes Curie's role as a feminist precursor. She was known for her honesty and moderate lifestyle. Having received a small scholarship in 1893, she returned it in 1897 as soon as she began earning her keep. She gave much of her first Nobel Prize money to friends, family, students, and research associates. In an unusual decision, Curie intentionally refrained from patenting the radium-isolation process so that the scientific community could do research unhindered. She insisted that monetary gifts and awards be given to the scientific institutions she was affiliated with rather than to her. She and her husband often refused awards and medals. Albert Einstein reportedly remarked that she was probably the only person who could not be corrupted by fame.

Honours and tributes

CERN, Marie Curie, Ginebra, Suiza, 2015 19

As one of the most famous scientists, Marie Curie has become an icon in the scientific world and has received tributes from across the globe, even in the realm of

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * Pop (Gas al ...

. In 1995, she became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon, Paris. In a 2009 poll carried out by '' New Scientist'', she was voted the "most inspirational woman in science". Curie received 25.1 percent of all votes cast, nearly twice as many as second-place

Rosalind Franklin Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 192016 April 1958) was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, co ...

(14.2 per cent). On the centenary of her second Nobel Prize, Poland declared 2011 the Year of Marie Curie; and the United Nations declared that this would be the

International Year of Chemistry The International Year of Chemistry 2011 (IYC 2011) was a year-long commemorative event for the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to humankind.Jacobs Gallery Jacobs may refer to: Businesses and organisations *Jacob's, a brand name for several lines of biscuits and crackers in Ireland and the UK *Jacobs (coffee), a brand of coffee *Jacobs Aircraft Engine Company, former American aircraft engine company ...

at San Diego's

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

. On 7 November, Google celebrated the anniversary of her birth with a special Google Doodle. On 10 December, the New York Academy of Sciences celebrated the centenary of Marie Curie's second Nobel Prize in the presence of

Princess Madeleine of Sweden Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning wiktionary:principal, principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. ...

. Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences. Awards that she received include: * Nobel Prize in Physics (1903, with her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel) * Davy Medal (1903, with Pierre) * Matteucci Medal (1904, with Pierre) *

Actonian Prize The Actonian Prize was established by the Royal Institution as a septennial award for the "person who in the judgement of the committee of managers for the time being of the Institution, should have been the author of the best essay illustrative of ...

(1907) *

Elliott Cresson Medal The Elliott Cresson Medal, also known as the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal, was the highest award given by the Franklin Institute. The award was established by Elliott Cresson, life member of the Franklin Institute, with $1,000 granted in 1848. The ...

(1909) * Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1911) * Franklin Medal of the American Philosophical Society (1921) She received numerous honorary degrees from universities across the world. In Poland, she received honorary doctorates from the Lwów Polytechnic (1912),

Poznań University Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

(1922), Kraków's

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

(1924), and the

(1926). In 1920 she became the first female member of The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. In 1921, in the U.S., she was awarded membership in the

Iota Sigma Pi Iota Sigma Pi () is a national honor society in the United States. It was established in 1902 and specializes in the promotion of women in the sciences, especially chemistry. It also focuses on personal and professional growth for women in these ...

women scientists' society. In 1924, she became an Honorary Member of the Polish Chemical Society. Marie Curie's 1898 publication with her husband and their collaborator

Gustave Bémont Gustave Bémont (April 1, 1857 – October 28, 1932, in Paris) was a French chemist, best remembered for his work in radioactivity and the discovery of elements radium and polonium with Pierre Curie, Pierre and Marie Curie. He was head of chemist ...

of their discovery of radium and polonium was honoured by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society presented to the ESPCI Paris in 2015. Entities that have been named in her honour include: * The

(symbol Ci), a unit of radioactivity, is named in honour of her and Pierre Curie (although the commission which agreed on the name never clearly stated whether the standard was named after Pierre, Marie, or both). * The element with atomic number 96 was named

curium Curium is a transuranic, radioactive chemical element with the symbol Cm and atomic number 96. This actinide element was named after eminent scientists Marie and Pierre Curie, both known for their research on radioactivity. Curium was first inte ...

. * Three radioactive minerals are also named after the Curies: curite, sklodowskite, and

cuprosklodowskite Cuprosklodowskite is a secondary uranium mineral formed by alteration of earlier uranium minerals. Its empirical formula is Cu(UO2)2(HSiO4)2·6(H2O). Cuprosklodowskite is a nesosilicate mineral, It is grass green to dark green in color, and its c ...

. * The

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) is a set of major research fellowships created by the European Union/European Commission to support research in the European Research Area (ERA). The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are among Europe's most com ...

fellowship program of the European Union for young scientists wishing to work in a foreign country is named after her. * In 2007, a metro station in Paris was renamed to honour both of the Curies. * the sole Polish nuclear reactor in operation, the research reactor Maria, is named after her. * The

7000 Curie 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

asteroid is also named after her. * A

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (registration PH-KCC) is named in her honour. * In 2011, a new

Warsaw bridge ''Warsaw Bridge'' ( ca, Pont de Varsòvia) is a 1990 feature film by Pere Portabella. It was written by Portabella and his frequent collaborator Carles Santos, who also wrote the score. It was Portabella's first film since 1977, and his first to b ...

over the Vistula River was named in her honour. * In January 2020, Satellogic, a high-resolution Earth observation imaging and analytics company, launched a

ÑuSat ÑuSat satellite series ( es, ÑuSat, sometimes translated into English as NewSat), is a series of Argentinean commercial Earth observation satellites. They form the Aleph-1 constellation, which is designed, built and operated by Satellogic. ...

type micro-satellite; ÑuSat 8, also known as Marie, was named in her honour. * The

Marie-Curie station Marie-Curie (known as Technoparc during development) is an under-construction underground Réseau express métropolitain (REM) station in the borough of Saint-Laurent in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Scheduled to open in 2027, it is planned to be o ...

, a planned underground

Réseau express métropolitain The Réseau express métropolitain (REM; en, Metropolitan Express Network) is a light metro rapid transit system under construction in Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. When completed in 2025, the system will link several Montreal suburbs and ...

(REM) station in the borough of Saint-Laurent in Montreal is named in her honour. A nearby road, Avenue Marie Curie, is also named in her honour. * The

molecular docking In the field of molecular modeling, docking is a method which predicts the preferred orientation of one molecule to a second when a ligand and a target are bound to each other to form a stable complex. Knowledge of the preferred orientation in tu ...

task CurieMariedock is a component of the Slovenian distributed computing project SiDock (which runs under the aegis of BOINC); its focus is

SARS‑CoV‑2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a p ...

. * Mount Curie in New Zealand's Paparoa Range was named after her in 1970 by the

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industria ...

. Several institutions presently bear her name, including the two Curie institutes which she founded: the

Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology The Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology ( pl, Narodowy Instytut Onkologii im. Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, until 2020 ''Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology'', pl, Centrum Onkolog ...

in Warsaw, and the ''

Institut Curie Centre of protontherapy Institut Curie is one of the leading medical, biological and biophysical research centres in the world. It is a private non-profit foundation operating a research center on biophysics, cell biology and oncology and a ho ...

'' in Paris. The Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, in

, was founded in 1944; and the

Pierre and Marie Curie University Pierre and Marie Curie University (french: link=no, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, UPMC), also known as Paris 6, was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussi ...

(also known as Paris VI) was France's pre-eminent science university, which would later merge to form the Sorbonne University. In Britain, the Marie Curie charity was organized in 1948 to care for the terminally ill. Two museums are devoted to Marie Curie. In 1967, the

Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum The Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum ( pl, Muzeum Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie) is a museum in Warsaw, Poland, devoted to the life and work of Polish double Nobel laureate Maria Skłodowska-Curie (1867–1934), who discovered the chemical elements p ...

was established in Warsaw's "

New Town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

", at her birthplace on ''ulica Freta'' (Freta Street). Her Paris laboratory is preserved as the

Musée Curie The Musée Curie (Curie Museum) is a historical museum focusing on radiological research. It is located in the 5th arrondissement at 1, rue Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, and open Wednesday to Saturday, from 1pm to 5pm; admission is free. ...

, open since 1992. Curie's likeness has appeared on banknotes, stamps and coins around the world. She was featured on the Polish late-1980s 20,000-'' złoty'' banknote as well as on the last French 500- franc note, before the franc was replaced by the euro. Curie-themed postage stamps from Mali, the Republic of Togo, Zambia, and the

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actually show a picture of Susan Marie Frontczak portraying Curie in a 2001 picture by Paul Schroeder. Her likeness or name has appeared on several artistic works. In 1935, Michalina Mościcka, wife of Polish President

Ignacy Mościcki Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 18672 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Germany ...

, unveiled a statue of Marie Curie before Warsaw's Radium Institute; during the 1944 Second World War Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi German occupation, the monument was damaged by gunfire; after the war it was decided to leave the bullet marks on the statue and its pedestal. Her name is included on the '' Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations'', erected in Hamburg, Germany in 1936. In 1955

Jozef Mazur Jozef C. Mazur (March 17, 1897 – April 23, 1970) was an American stained-glass artist, painter and sculptor. His works can be found signed as Josef Mazur, Joseph Mazur, Joe Mazur, J. C. Mazur as well as a few others. Life Mazur was born to ...

created a stained glass panel of her, the

Maria Skłodowska-Curie Medallion The ''Marie Skłodowska-Curie Medallion'' is one panel from a set of four created by Jozef C. Mazur. It honors Marie Curie and currently resides in the Polish Room at the University at Buffalo Libraries. History On August 3, 1955, the University ...

, featured in the University at Buffalo Polish Room. In 2011, on the

centenary {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at ...

of Marie Curie's second Nobel Prize, an allegorical mural was painted on the façade of her Warsaw birthplace. It depicted an infant Maria Skłodowska holding a test tube from which emanated the elements that she would discover as an adult: polonium and radium.

In popular culture

Numerous biographies are devoted to her, including: *

Ève Curie Ève Denise Curie Labouisse (; December 6, 1904 – October 22, 2007) was a French and American writer, journalist and pianist. Ève Curie was the younger daughter of Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie. Her sister was Irène Joliot-Curie a ...

(Marie Curie's daughter), ''Madame Curie'', 1938. * Françoise Giroud, ''Marie Curie: A Life'', 1987. * Barbara Goldsmith, ''Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie'', 2005. *

Lauren Redniss Lauren Redniss (b. 1974) is an American artist and writer. She was awarded a "Genius Grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2016. Education Redniss graduated from Brown University. She earned an MFA in Illustration ...

, ''Radioactive: Marie and Pierre Curie, a Tale of Love and Fallout'', 2011, adapted into the 2019 British film. Marie Curie has been the subject of a number of films: * 1943: '' Madame Curie'', a U.S. Oscar-nominated film by

Mervyn LeRoy Mervyn LeRoy (; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer. In his youth he played juvenile roles in vaudeville and silent film comedies. During the 1930s, LeRoy was one of the two great practitioners of ...

starring Greer Garson. * 1997: ''Les Palmes de M. Schutz'', a French film adapted from a play of the same title, and directed by Claude Pinoteau. Marie Curie is played by Isabelle Huppert. * 2014: ''Marie Curie, une femme sur le front'', a French-Belgian film, directed by and starring Dominique Reymond. * 2016: ''Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge'', a European co-production by Marie Noëlle starring Karolina Gruszka. * 2019: ''Radioactive (film), Radioactive'', a British film by Marjane Satrapi starring Rosamund Pike. Curie is the subject of the 2013 play, ''False Assumptions'', by Lawrence Aronovitch, in which the ghosts of three other women scientists observe events in her life.Mixing Science With Theatre
– Ottawa Sun, March 2013 Curie has also been portrayed by Susan Marie Frontczak in her play, ''Manya: The Living History of Marie Curie'', a one-woman show which by 2014 had been performed in 30 U.S. states and nine countries.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curie, Marie Marie Curie, 1867 births 1934 deaths 19th-century French chemists 19th-century French inventors 19th-century French physicists 19th-century French women scientists 19th-century Polish chemists 19th-century Polish inventors 19th-century Polish physicists 19th-century Polish women scientists 20th-century French chemists 20th-century French inventors 20th-century French physicists 20th-century French women scientists 20th-century Polish chemists 20th-century Polish inventors 20th-century Polish physicists 20th-century Polish women scientists Burials at the Panthéon, Paris Congress Poland emigrants to France Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925) Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Curie family, Marie Deaths from anemia Discoverers of chemical elements Experimental physicists Former Roman Catholics French agnostics French atheists French Nobel laureates French nuclear physicists French women chemists French women physicists Honorary Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Inventors killed by their own invention Légion d'honneur refusals Members of the Lwów Scientific Society Naturalized citizens of France Nobel laureates in Chemistry Nobel laureates in Physics Nobel laureates with multiple Nobel awards Nuclear chemists People from Warsaw Governorate Polish agnostics Polish atheists Polish governesses Polish Nobel laureates Polish nuclear physicists Radioactivity Recipients of the Matteucci Medal Scientists from Warsaw University of Paris alumni University of Paris faculty Victims of radiological poisoning Women inventors Women Nobel laureates Women nuclear physicists