As part of our blog series about women medical pioneers, meet Marie Curie – the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two scientific fields.
Read on to learn about her life and work – and her contribution to modern medicine.
A Love of Learning
“Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.”
Maria Sklodowska was born in Warsaw in 1867 as the youngest of 5 siblings. Her parents were schoolteachers who inspired in her a love of learning.
Although exceptionally bright, she was unable to attend a traditional Polish University, as they did not admit female students at that time. Instead, Maria read avidly and studied hard to become a governess.
She used some of her earnings to help fund her sister, Bronislawa, to study Medicine in Paris. In 1891, her sister was able to repay this kindness by offering Maria lodgings at her home in Paris, and the possibility of a place at Sorbonne University.
Maria grabbed the opportunity and enrolled in Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics.
Marie and Pierre
In 1894, Maria met the French scientist, Pierre Curie. They were married in 1895 and Marie adopted the French spelling of her name. Marie and Pierre had two daughters; Irene (who became a nuclear physicist and won a Nobel prize, too) and Eve (who became a writer and journalist).
The Curies worked at the School of Chemistry and Physics in Paris, conducting research into the properties of a substance called pitchblende. Another famous French Scientist, Henri Becquerel, had recently discovered that uranium, one of the elements contained in pitchblende, emitted “invisible rays.” Marie called these “radioactivity.”
By dissolving pitchblende in acid, she and Pierre were able to separate other elements present and extract a black powder 330 times more radioactive than uranium. As a tribute to Marie’s native country, they named this substance “Polonium.” Later, Marie discovered Radium, too.
In 1903, Marie, Pierre and Henri were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work developing the theory of radioactivity.
In 1906, Pierre died in a tragic accident when he fell under the wheels of a horse-drawn during heavy rain. Marie was devastated.
The Physics Department in which Pierre had worked offered Marie his chair. Hoping to create a world class laboratory as a tribute to him, she accepted and became the first Professor at the University of Paris. Marie was awarded a second Nobel Prize in 1911 – this time in Chemistry.
By 1914, she was the Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of Paris located on Rue Pierre-Curie.
Legacy
Marie and Pierre’s work led to the development of mobile x-ray machines called “Petits Curies” which proved invaluable during the First World War. They allowed diagnosis of fractures, determined if limbs could be saved, and located bullets and shrapnel in wounds.
Marie became the Director of the Red Cross Radiological Service, and she and her 17-year-old daughter Irene set up over 200 radiological units at field hospitals.
They trained many other women in the art of radiography. Marie donated her Nobel Prize money to the war effort in France.
The harmful effects of radiation were unknown during Marie’s lifetime. She often felt sick and exhausted, and her hands became raw and inflamed.
Marie died at the age of 66 of aplastic pernicious anaemia, the result of years of exposure to radioactive materials and unshielded x-rays. Marie and Pierre’s bodies now lie in the Pantheon – the Paris mausoleum reserved for France’s most revered dead.
Marie paid the ultimate sacrifice, but her discoveries initiated the development of today’s miraculous diagnostic equipment and paved the way for radiation therapy to treat cancer.
Her legacy lives on in Marie Curie, the major UK charity named in her honour which cares for terminally ill patients and offers support to their families.
