Marie Curie

Marie was born in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867. Life for young Marie was hard. Russia ruled her country and her father couldn't keep good jobs. To make matters worse, her mother died before Marie was 11 years old. Times were tough, but Marie's family was close and they all helped each other.

Early in her life, Marie grew to love learning. Her father, a professor, stirred her interest in science, literature and other subjects. In school, Marie excelled and won a medal for her studies.

Marie wanted very much to go to college. At that time, the university in Warsaw wouldn't admit women. Marie and her sister worked out a plan so they could both attend school at Sorbonne University in Paris. Marie worked as a governess in Poland to pay for her sister's education. When her sister finished, Marie went to school in Paris.

Marie began her studies in Paris when she was 24 years old. She studied very hard and received high marks on her exams. Within three years, she had earned degrees in math and physics. She knew then that she wanted to make science her life's work.

Marie met Pierre Curie, a physicist, in 1894 and they were married the next year. A physicist studies physics, the science of matter and energy and how they work with each other.

Pierre and Marie's first daughter was born in 1897. Even though Marie had a child now, she continued her research and decided to become a Doctor of Science. To become a doctor, Marie had to discover something and write a paper about it.

In a little laboratory at the School of Physics and Chemistry, Marie began her study of uranium. Uranium is a radioactive element. An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into other substances. For something to be radioactive, it must give off special energy rays.

Marie tested every known element. She made a big discovery during this long process. She found that pitchblende, a soft rock, was more radioactive than uranium. She thought that a new element other than uranium must exist in the pitchblende.

Pierre and Marie decided to work together to discover the new element that they called radium. It was hard work. Marie stirred large pots of pitchblende looking for the radium. After years of searching, they finally found a speck of radium in 1902.

Marie and Pierre became famous for their discovery. In 1903, they received the Nobel Prize in Physics. Unfortunately, they were both so ill from working with radioactive materials, that they could not accept the prize in person.

Radium had made the Curies ill, but doctors soon found that it could make people well, too. Doctors used radium to treat and cure cancer. Treatment of cancer using radium is called radiotherapy.

Tragedy struck the Curie family in 1906. Pierre was killed in an accident and Marie was devastated. However sad she was, she was more determined than ever to continue her work. Marie became the first woman professor in France and took her husband's place as head of the physics department at the Sorbonne.

In 1910, Marie received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work with radioactivity. Chemistry is the science of matter, structure and reactions. This time, the award was for her work and her work alone. She went to Stockholm, Sweden, to receive her prize.

When World War I broke out in Europe in 1914, Marie decided she would do her best to help the wounded soldiers. Marie bought cars and vans that helped transport X-ray machines to battlefields and hospitals. X-rays are photographs of the inside of the body. The doctors used X-rays to find out what was wrong with the soldiers and save their lives.

After the war, Marie made a special trip to the United States. Since radium was in such short supply, people in the U.S. raised money and bought radium for Marie. President Warren Harding presented Marie with a key that unlocked a package of radium.

In 1934, when Marie was 66 years old, she became very sick with a blood disease. The disease was caused by her exposure to radiation for so many years. She died that same year. She gave her life to science and gave her life for others.