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- Marie was born in Warsaw, Poland. which at that time was annexed by Russia. -Her maiden name was Maria Salomea Skłodowska
- She was the youngest of five children, and both of her parents were educators.
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• She was very much a book, physic and nature lover.
• She moved to Paris where her sister was living since there were no universities for girls to go to in Poland.
• She began to go by the name Marie. Instead of Maria
• She attended the Sorbonne University in Paris and completed her master’s degrees in physics and math in three years and the first woman to do so. She then began working on her research to discover radioactivity. -
• Marie marries her Laboratory partner Pierre Curie after only a year of working together, they came together over there shared love of science and research.
• At first, she did not accept because she planned to return to Poland to work.But when Marie was denied a place at Kraków University because she was a woman,Pierre convinced her to return to Paris.
• Instead of a bridal gown, Marie chose a dark blue dress. She explained: “I have no dress except the one I wear every day. -
• Marie & Pierre Curie announced the discovery of polonium, a new element that was 400 times more radioactive than any other.
• She discovered that Radiation wasn’t dependent on the organization of atoms at the molecular level; something was happening inside the atom itself. The atom was not, as scientists believed at the time, inert, indivisible, or even solid.
• They began working on the “radiation phenomena” with Henri Becquerel who had originally discovered Uranium. -
• Marie earns her Doctorate of Science in June, becoming the first woman in France to receive a doctoral degree.
• In November of this year , Marie and Pierre share their Nobel Prize with Bequerel for their discovery and research of radioactivity. This was not given easily, the Nobel committee, the French Academy of Sciences had not acknowledged Marie’s contributions and omitted her name, it was later announced Pierre insisted that they be considered for the prize together. -
• Marie’s husband is killed by a horse drawn vehicle after falling below the wheels crossing the busy Rue Dauphine in the rain in April.
• Marie takes over his professorship at the Sorbonne in May, making her the first women to teach there.
• She devotes all of her energy to completing alone the scientific work that she and Pierre had undertaken. -
• Marie was awarded her SECOND Nobel Prize for Chemistry for her discovery of the element’s polonium and radium, and also by the use of different techniques she invented for isolating radioactive isotopes.
• She is the only person to win a noble prize in two sciences.
• Although she was awarded it alone, she accepted it in honor of her late husband, who had a strong hand in the discovery -
• Marie was the first person to discover the Mobile X-ray units
• When WWI began, she realized that the electromagnetic radiation of X-rays could help doctors see the bullets and shrapnel embedded in the soldiers’ bodies and remove them, as well as locate broken bones.
• She convince automobile shops to transform the cars into vans in order to make 20 radiology vehicles. These were named “Little Curies”
• She took a pause on setting up her laboratory at the radium institute -
• Maire officially opens the radium institute in Warsaw! This was a non-profit foundation operating as a research center on biophysics, cell biology and oncology and a hospital specialized in treatment of cancer.
• This institute published 483 works including 31 papers and books during Marie Curies life time.
• Shortly after opening this institute the United States gave Marie Curie a gram of radium needed for her research. This cost close to 100,000 per gram in the 1920s! -
• Marie Passed away at the age of 67 at the Sancellemoz Sanatorium in France
• Her cause of death was Leukemia and aplastic anemia, this was a condition that developed after years of exposure to radiation through her work over the years with radioactive materials.
• Her papers from the 1890s are still contaminated with radiation, and researchers must wear protective clothing before removing them from the lead-lined boxes which contain them.