Marie Curie:

Marie Curie, born Maria Skłodowska on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland, was a
pioneering physicist and chemist. She is best known for her groundbreaking research on
radioactivity, a term she coined. Marie Curie's work led to the development of X-ray
machines for medical use and, more notably, the discovery of two radioactive elements,
polonium and radium.
In 1903, she became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, sharing the prize in Physics
with her husband Pierre Curie and another scientist, Henri Becquerel, for their work on
radioactivity. Later, in 1911, she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry,
for her isolation of radium and polonium. Marie Curie remains the only person to win
Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields.
Despite her pioneering work, Marie Curie faced discrimination as a woman in the male-
dominated scientific community. She persevered and became a professor at the
Sorbonne, making her the first woman to hold that position.
Tragically, Marie Curie's extensive exposure to radiation during her research ultimately
led to her early death in 1934, but her legacy lives on. Her research not only advanced
our understanding of radioactivity but also paved the way for medical treatments such
as radiation therapy.