MARIE CURIE

MARIA SALOMEA
SKLODOWSKA-CURIE WAS
BORN ON NOVEMBER 7,
1867 IN WARSAW, POLAND.
HE SPENT HIS CHILDHOOD
WITH HIS PARENTS AND
HIS FOUR BROTHERS.
SHE ATTENDED A
PRIVATE GIRLS' SCHOOL
AND GRADUATED WITH
A GOLD MEDAL.
SHE SPENT TIME IN THE
FIELD AND RETURNED
HOME TO START
TEACHING AFTER
BEING REJECTED FROM
COLLEGE FOR BEING A
WOMAN.
LATER SHE WAS ABLE
TO ENTER A
CLANDESTINE HIGHER
EDUCATION
INSTITUTION CALLED
UNIWERSYTET
LATAJACY THAT DID
ADMIT FEMALE
STUDENTS.
IN 1891 HE TRAVELED TO
PARIS, WHERE HE
CHANGED HIS NAME TO
MARIE.
THAT SAME YEAR HE
ENROLLED IN THE
SCIENCE COURSE AT THE
PARIS UNIVERSITY OF
THE SORBONNE. TWO
YEARS LATER SHE
FINISHED HER STUDIES IN
PHYSICS BEING THE BEST
STUDENT OF HER CLASS.
IN 1894 HE MET
PIERRE CURIE. THEY
WERE MARRIED IN
1895 AFTER A SIMPLE
CEREMONY. THEY
HAD TWO
DAUGHTERS, ONE OF
WHOM WON THE
NOBEL PRIZE IN
CHEMISTRY.
TOGETHER, MARIE
AND HER HUSBAND,
PIERRE, DISCOVERED
THE RADIOACTIVE
ELEMENTS THEY
CALLED 'POLONIUM'
AND 'RADIO', AND
WERE AWARDED THE
NOBEL PRIZE IN
PHYSICS.
IN 1911 SHE WAS
AWARDED A SECOND
NOBEL PRIZE:
CHEMISTRY, FOR HIS
RESEARCH. SHE WAS
APPOINTED
DIRECTOR OF AN
INSTITUTE IN PARIS
AND IN 1914
FOUNDED THE CURIE
INSTITUTE.
FINALLY, AFTER A LIFE
LEGACY THAT
DETERMINED A TURNING
POINT IN THE HISTORY
OF WOMEN AND
SCIENCE, MARIE CURIE
DIED AT THE AGE OF 66
IN HER NATIVE POLAND;
APPARENTLY DUE TO A
DISEASE DERIVED FROM
THE HIGH RADIATION TO
WHICH HE WAS EXPOSED
FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE.