Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (1867-1934) was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, and the only person ever to win in two different scientific fields: Physics and Chemistry.
Curie, considered one of the pioneers of modern physics, was among the first women to earn a doctorate in France at a time when women were often barred from universities.
Together with her husband, Pierre Curie, she discovered polonium and radium; the name polonium was given in honor of her native Poland. In 1903, the couple, along with Henri Becquerel, won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on radioactivity. In 1911, Marie won a second Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work isolating radium and polonium.
Her contributions were not limited to the laboratory: during World War I, she developed mobile X-ray units for the front lines, known as the "Little Curies."
Her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie, while her other daughter, Ève Curie, pursued social and cultural work, including
involvement with UNICEF.
Marie Curie died in 1934 from aplastic anemia, a condition caused by prolonged exposure to radiation. Even decades later, many of her notebooks remain radioactive and are stored in lead-lined boxes in France.
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