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She was born in Warsaw, in what was then the Kingdom of Poland, part of the Russian Empire.
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Curie studied physics, chemistry, and mathematics.
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Following in her parents' footsteps Joliot-Curie would be awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, jointly with her husband, in 1935 for their discovery of artificial radioactivity.
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Curie and her husband published a joint paper announcing the existence of an element which they named "polonium", in honour of her native Poland.
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Curie and her husband discovered radium on 21 December 1898, in a uraninite sample. Pictured: Marie and Pierre Curie experimenting with radium, a drawing by André Castaigne.
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The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 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 phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel.
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Pierre was struck by a horse-drawn vehicle and fell under its wheels, causing his skull to fracture. Marie was devestated.
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The physics department of the University of Paris decided to retain the chair that had been created for Pierre and to offer it to Marie.[43] She accepted it hoping to create a world-class laboratory as a tribute to Pierre.
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"Institut Curie" continues to be one of the leading medical, biological and biophysical research centres in the world over 100 years after it was founded.
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She became the director of the Red Cross Radiology Service and set up France's first military radiology centre. Pictured: Curie in a mobile X-ray vehicle
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Hélène would become noted nuclear physicist.
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Yet another scientist, Pierre would become a noted biologist.
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Curie died from aplastic anemia believed to have been contracted from her long-term exposure to radiation.
