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Chemist and phycisist
born in Poland as Manya Sklodowska, daughter of a teacher oh mathematics and physics
first years were marked by the death of her sister because of Typhus and her mother
notable for her amazing memory and diligent work, neglecting even food and sleep to study
graduaded her Lyzeum (all-Greek examination) with distinction (after this suffered a mental breakdown for a year)
Due to her gender and Russian anti-Polish reprisals following the January Uprising, was not allowed admission into any universities
Reads literature together with polish workers honorary at the polish-national orientated "Free University" in Warsaw
1883-1891 works as a governessto pay her sister's study of medicine in Paris and later move to Paris to study physics and chemistry (there she changed her name)
met Pierre Curie, Professor in the School of Physics in 1894 (they married in 1895)
succeeded her husband as Head of the Physics Laboratory at the Sorbonne
1897 birth of their daughter Irene who won a Nobel prize in 1935
second daghter died because of radioacive radiation after her birth
1903 gained her Doctor of Science degree and won the Nobel prize (with P. Curie, and with H. Becquerel) for the discovery of radium and polonium
1904 birth of her daughter Eve
After tragic death of Pierre Curie in 1906, took his place as Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences à first time a woman had held this position
Second Nobel prize for chemistry in 1911 for the isolation of pure radium
intentionally did not patent the radium isolation process, instead leaving it open so the scientific community could research unhindered
was the first person to win or share two Nobel Prizes and one of only two people who has been awarded a Nobel Prize in two different fields
After her husband\'s death, had an affair with physicist Paul Langevin, a married man who had left his wife à resulted in a press scandal, exacerbated by her academic opponents in order to damage her credibility
Despite her fame as an honored scientist working for France, the public\'s attitude to the scandal tended towards xenophobia
she was a foreigner, from an unknown land (Poland was still referred to as a geographical area, under the Russian Tsar), an area known to have a significant Jewish population (Marie was an atheist, raised as a Catholic but that didn\'t seem to matter)
Was appointed Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of Paris, founded in 1914
World War I, pushed for the use of mobile radiography units for help of wounded soldiers
members of American Association of University Women from Maine to California helped by raising $156,413, enabling Madame Curie to purchase one gram of radium during Worl War I. and continue her experiments (helped her create the field of nuclear chemistry)
was disappointed by the myriad physicians and makers of cosmetics who used radioactive material without precautions
Taught in Brasil, Belgium, Spain and Czech Republic
ultimately died from leukemia thought to be an effect of her experiments with radiation
Despite receiving two Nobel Prizes, was never admitted to the French Academie des Sciences
Today, a Curie unit is defined as the activity of 1 gram of radium
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