Marie Curie

Born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw in 1867, Marie Curie faced early challenges in her homeland under Russian rule, which limited educational opportunities for women. She worked as a governess to save money and support her sister's education in Paris, eventually following her there in 1891 to pursue her own scientific studies at the Sorbonne.

• •Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields (Physics and Chemistry).
• •During World War I, Marie Curie developed mobile radiography units, known as 'petites Curies' (little Curies), to provide X-ray services to field hospitals, saving countless lives.
• •She named the element polonium after her native country, Poland, as a patriotic gesture when it was discovered.
• •Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with Henri Becquerel for their joint research on the radiation phenomena discovered by Becquerel.
• •Despite her groundbreaking work with radioactive materials, which were not understood to be dangerous at the time, Marie Curie died from aplastic anemia, likely caused by prolonged exposure to radiation.