Marie Curie’s lasting impact on the world is immeasurable, not only through her scientific breakthroughs but also through the humanitarian and ethical standards she set. A physicist and chemist ahead of her time, Curie’s unparalleled dedication to research paved the way for the development of nuclear energy and modern cancer treatment methods.
Born Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie in Warsaw in 1867, Curie overcame educational barriers imposed on women in Poland by moving to France, where she became both the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win in two different scientific fields. Her first Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel in 1903, recognized their collective work on radioactivity—a term Curie herself coined. The tragic loss of Pierre in a street accident in 1906 did not halt Curie’s pursuit of scientific excellence. She was the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris. In 1911, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of polonium and radium, using methods she developed for isolating radioactive isotopes.
Curie’s nobility extended beyond her scientific prowess. She gave away much of her Nobel Prize money, She said “I am going to give up the little gold I possess. I shall add to this the scientific medals, which are quite useless to me. There is something else: by sheer laziness I had allowed the money for my second Nobel Prize to remain in Stockholm in Swedish crowns. This is the chief part of what we possess. I should like to bring it back here and invest it in war loans. The state needs it. Only, I have no illusions: this money will probably be lost.”
During World War I, Curie’s ingenuity shone once again as she developed mobile radiography units to provide X-ray services to field hospitals. The Curie Institutes in Paris and Warsaw, which she founded, became leading centers of medical research, particularly in the nascent field of radiobiology.
Despite the lack of awareness of the dangers of radiation exposure during her time, which ultimately led to her death from aplastic anemia. Her death on July 4, 1934, she was interred at the cemetery in Sceaux, alongside her husband Pierre.
Relevant articles:
– Marie Curie