Marie Curie was born youngest of five children in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867. She was well taught by her mother, Bronsilawa, a teacher, and her father, Wladyslaw, a professor of mathematics and physics. Marie continued her study of mathematical sciences at the University of Paris in 1891. While working in distinguished laboratory of Gabriel Lippman, she met her husband Pierre Curie. Their marriage (July 25, 1895) marked the start of a partnership that was soon to achieve results of world significance, in particular the discovery of polonium in the summer of 1898 and that of radium a few months later. The discovery of the source of radioactivity as well as these highly radioactive elements won the Curies the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics and Mar
ie her doctorate of science. Pierre, weakened by his overexposure to radiation, died when he was hit by a car in 1906. Although this was a devastating blow to Marie, it was the turning point in her career. She dedicated all her time and energy to the scientific cause they had taken on together and was determined to complete it alone. On May 13, 1906 she took over her husband’s job of professor at Sorbonne University. From this, her accomplishments continued to accumulate. In 1910 she published her findings about radioactivity. 1911 was the year she won her second Nobel Prize. This time it was in Chemistry for isolating pure radium and studying its chemical properties. She founded the Radium Institute, a building of laboratories at the University of P
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