Marie Sklodowska-Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867. In her youth, Marie Curie's sister died from typhus and then after four years, she lost her mother. But, she was still known for her exceptional memory, her diligent work ethic, and, she was even known to turn down food and even sleep to keep studying.
Due to her being a female, and because of the Poland revolution against the Tsarist Russians, she was unable to go to high school. She got the financial needs from her sister to move to Paris, France. She attended high school at the College Sevigne and graduated at the top of her class at the age of fifteen. She then went to a university known as the Sorbonne and studied mathematics and physics. She graduated first in her undergrad class in 1893. Then after a year, she got her Masters degree in mathematics.
At Sorbonne, she met a man named Pierre Curie, which with whom she married and, studied chemistry and radioactivity. In 1903, she received her DSc from the ESPCI. She and her husband discovered 3 new elements, one that is unknown and more radioactive than Uranium, and Polonium and Radium. In 1903, she, her husband, and Henry Bacquerel received the Nobel Prize in Physics. Marie Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize.
In 1906, after her husband's tragic traffic accident, Curie had an affair with Paul Langevin, a married man who had left his wife. This action resulted in a press scandal. In 1911, she received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She now had 2 Nobel Prizes. In 1921, she toured the United States, where she was warmly welcomed. She was there to raise funds for research on radium.
In 1934, Marie Sklodowska-Curie died of aplastic anemia, the highly rumored reason was because of the radiation of the test tubes that she put in her pockets and desks. Marie Curie was one of the greatest female chemists in the world and we will never forget her for all that she's done on our evolution of science.
