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Maria Sklodowska
Birth, Warsaw (Modern-day Poland) -
Floating University
Maria Sklodowski attended secret classes in Warsaw, known as the "floating university" as women were not allowed to continue their education -
Marie Curie enrolls at the Sorbonne
Because women could not attend university in Poland, Curie saved up to move to France, one of the few countries at the time that allowed women to continue their education. -
Earns Master's
Maria Sklodowski earns a master's degree in physics. -
Earns second degree
Maria Sklodowski earns a degree in mathematics. -
Weds Pierre Curie
Maria Sklodowska weds Pierre Curie, a professor at Sorbonne. -
Announces thesis on uranium
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Birth of daughter Irene
The Curie's first daughter, Irene, was born in 1897. Irene would go on to win a Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1935. -
Curie begins research at School of Physics and Chemistry in Paris
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Discoveries concerning radiation published
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Radium
Curie was able to extract radium from the mineral pitchblende -
First Nobel Prize
Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize for Physics, becoming the first woman to win a Nobel Prize -
Second Nobel Prize
Curie won a second Nobel Prize in 1911 for chemistry, becoming the first person to win two Nobel Prizes. -
Ernest Rutherford formulates atom model
Rutherford applied Curie's discoveries to his work, creating the still-used atomic model -
Establishes Radium Institute in honor of her late husband
Marie Curie sets up a medical research lab dedicated to studying radioactivity -
Appointed director of Red Cross Radiology Service
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Little Curies
Marie Curie pushed the idea of using portable x-ray machines in the field during World War I. The machines would become known as "Little Curies" -
Cofounded Polish Chemical Society
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Warsaw Radium Institute founded
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Death
Marie Curie died on July 4, 1934 from aplastic anemia - most likely due to long-term exposure to the radioactive materials she studied.