Marie Curie

 

Marie Curie was born in Poland in 1867. At that time, Poland was

controlled by Russia, and people were only allowed to speak Russian.

 

There were two major obstacles Marie Curie faced:

 

1. Due to her father’s low income he was not be able to support

her while she went to university

2. Higher education was not available for girls in Poland

 

 

In 1891, Marie went to Paris and studied Chemistry, Mathematics

and Physics. Marie worked as a tutor to earn money for herself and

support her sister while she went to medical school. She also

studied hard when she had time.

 

She completed a Master’s degree in chemistry in 1894. During that time she met her husband Pierre at school, and they dedicated themselves to research. In 1903, Marie Curie was awarded her Ph.D. by the Sorbonne.

 

The first element they discovered was Polonium, named by Marie to honor her homeland Poland. They found polonium was 300 times more radioactive uranium. She and her husband were awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of radioactivity. Marie Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize.