Curie, Marie (1867-1934)

Curie, Marie

CHEMIST (FRANCE)

BORN 7 Nov 1867, Warschau (Poland) - DIED 3 Jul 1934, Paris
BIRTH NAME Sklodowska, Marya Salomea
CAUSE OF DEATH leukemia (caused by radiation)
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Panthéon (Caveau VIII)

Marya Sklodowska was trained scientifically in Warshaw. In 1891 she joined her older sister Bronislawa to study in Paris. There she was introduced to Pierre Curie by Józef Wierusz-Kowalski. Pierre provided her with laboratory space and their mutual interest in science evolved into mutual feelings for each other. He proposed to her but she turned him down because she wanted to return to Poland. He declared himself ready to follow her. After she was refused a position at Krakow University because of her sex she returned to Paris. In 1895 she married Pierre. In 1897 their daughter Irène was born.

In 1898 they published a paper in which they presented the element polonium. They published many scientific papers, seperately as well as jointly. In 1903 tboth of them received to Nobel Prize in physics, together with Henri Becquerel. In 1904 their second daughter Ève was born. In 1906 Pierre died in a traffic accident. the University of Paris decided to offer his professorship to her. She accepted and became the first female professor at the University.

In 1910 she managed to isolate radium and in 1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry. After the First World War she continued her work and in 1921 she was received by Warren G. Harding at the White House. She died in 1934 of aplastic anemia, possibly caused by her exposure to radium. She was buried with her husband at the cemetery of Sceaux, a suburb of Paris. In 1995 both were transferred to the Panthéon. Her early papers can only be consulted with protective clothing because of their radioactivity.

Family
• Husband: Curie, Pierre (1895-1906)

Events

12/4/1898	Marie Curie publishes for the first time on radium
20/4/1995	Marie Curie and Pierre Curie are reburied at the Panthéon. They were previously buried at the cemetery of Sceaux. [Curie, Pierre]