Curie, Marie (born Sklodovska)
1867-1934. Polish scientist, who investigated
radioactivity, and with her husband Pierre
(1859-1906) discovered radium. Born in
Warsaw, she studied in Paris from 1891.
Impressed by the publication of Becquerel's
experiments, Marie Curie decided to
investigate the nature of uranium rays. In
1898 she reported the possible existence of
some new powerful radioactive element in
pitchblende ores. Her husband abandoned his
own researches to assist her, and in the same
year they announced the existence of polonium
and radium. They isolated the pure elements
in 1902. Both scientists refused to take out
a patent on their discovery, and were jointly
awarded the Davy Medal (1903) and the Nobel
Prize for Physics (1903; with Becquerel). In
1904 Pierre was appointed to a chair in
physics at the Sorbonne, and on his death in
a street accident was succeeded by his wife.
She wrote a Treatise on Radioactivity in
1910, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Chemistry in 1911. She died a victim of the
radiation among which she had worked in her
laboratory.