Irène Joliot-Curie followed in her mother's footsteps, winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935. The couple had a second daughter, Ève, in 1904. In 1897, Marie and Pierre welcomed a daughter, Irène. Curie was derided in the press for breaking up Langevin's marriage, the negativity in part stemming from rising xenophobia in France. In 1911, Curie’s relationship with her husband's former student, Paul Langevin, became public. Despite her tremendous grief, she took over his teaching post at the Sorbonne, becoming the institution's first female professor.
Marie suffered a tremendous loss in 1906 when Pierre was killed in Paris after accidentally stepping in front of a horse-drawn wagon. But after Marie discovered radioactivity, Pierre put aside his own work to help her with her research. At first, Marie and Pierre worked on separate projects. They were introduced by a colleague of Marie’s after she graduated from Sorbonne University Marie had received a commission to perform a study on different types of steel and their magnetic properties and needed a lab for her work.Ī romance developed between the brilliant pair, and they became a scientific dynamic duo who were completely devoted to one another. Marie married French physicist Pierre Curie on July 26, 1895. She threw herself into her studies, but this dedication had a personal cost: with little money, Curie survived on buttered bread and tea, and her health sometimes suffered because of her poor diet.Ĭurie completed her master's degree in physics in 1893 and earned another degree in mathematics the following year. In 1891, Curie finally made her way to Paris and enrolled at the Sorbonne. She used her spare time to study, reading about physics, chemistry and math. Undeterred, Curie worked out a deal with her sister: She would work to support Bronya while she was in school, and Bronya would return the favor after she completed her studies.įor roughly five years, Curie worked as a tutor and a governess. She instead continued her education in Warsaw's "floating university," a set of underground, informal classes held in secret.īoth Curie and her sister Bronya dreamed of going abroad to earn an official degree, but they lacked the financial resources to pay for more schooling. But despite being a top student in her secondary school, Curie could not attend the male-only University of Warsaw. She had a bright and curious mind and excelled at school. When she was only 10, Curie lost her mother, Bronislawa, to tuberculosis.Īs a child, Curie took after her father. Her father, Wladyslaw, was a math and physics instructor. Curie was the youngest of five children, following siblings Zosia, Józef, Bronya and Hela.īoth of Curie’s parents were teachers. Maria Sklodowska, later known as Marie Curie, was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw (modern-day Poland).
The famed scientist died in 1934 of aplastic anemia likely caused by exposure to radiation. With her husband Pierre Curie, Marie's efforts led to the discovery of polonium and radium and, after Pierre's death, the further development of X-rays. Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person - man or woman - to win the award twice.
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