1. Marie Curie Carolyn Lloyd

2. Early Life Born Maria Salomea Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867 Graduated high school at fifteen and had a passion for science However, her family could not afford to send her to a university and higher education was not available to girls in Poland Marie Curie, age sixteen

3. Education Moved to Paris and studied mathematics, chemistry, and Physics at Sorbonne Finished as a top student and received funding to investigate steel and its magnetic qualities Earned her masters degree in chemistry in 1894 Married Pierre Curie in 1895, a respected inventor and scientist, who was also an expert in magnetism Marie and Pierre Curie in their laboratory

4. Claim to Fame Discovered the new elements radium and polonium Founded the Curie Institutes, which are centers for important medical research The only person to win Nobel Prizes in both chemistry and physics The Curie Institute in Paris

5. Influences Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays that could capture pictures of bones in 1895 Henri Becquerel discovered rays emitted by uranium could pass through metal in 1896 Marie was fascinated by this new area of science and began experiments using uranium immediately Roentgen’s first X-ray (included a wedding ring)

6. Uranium Experiments Curie’s lab was a storeroom under the Paris Municiple School Studied a variety of chemical compounds containing uranium She discovered: Uranium rays charged the air they passed through, conducting electricity The more uranium atoms in a compound, the more intense the radiation The number of rays depended on the amount of radium, not its chemical form Uranium Ore

7. The Discovery of Polonium and Radium Found that the minerals pitchblende and torbernite had more of an effect on conductivity of air than uranium itself Theorized these minerals contained elements more active than uranium Pierre and Marie processed tons of pitchblende and discovered two new radioactive elements First discovered Polonium, which was three hundred times as reactive as uranium and was named after Marie’s home country They then discovered radium, which was several million times more reactive than uranium and was named after the latin word ray Also found that it was luminous, and was a source of heat without any chemical reactions taking place

8. Nobel Prize for Physics Marie Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 The Nobel Committee was first only going to give the award to Pierre Curie and Becquerel Pierre insisted that Marie should be honored too Three people shared the prize for their discoveries in radiation Marie Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize Marie’s Nobel Prize Portrait

9. Nobel Prize for Chemistry Marie isolated radium for the first time ever in 1910 For this and the discovery of radium and polonium, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911 Marie was the first and only person to win a Nobel Prize in both physics and chemistry Curie’s Nobel Prize Citation

10. Helping the Wounded Staff of the Curie Institute enlisted in the war effort when Germany invaded France in 1914 Curie’s scientific research had to stop during World War I Realized X-rays could save peoples’ lives by revealing bullets, shrapnel, and broken bones Curie moved twenty mobile and two hundred stationary X-ray stations to the Western Front Iréne Curie helped her mother heal soldiers’ devastating injuries Marie also found a way to use radon gas to destroy diseased tissue By the end of the war, over one million soldiers had passed through her radiology units One of the mobile X-ray stations

11. Death July 4, 1934, Marie was killed by aplastic anemia The disease was most likely caused by her exposure to radioactivity during her life time Her books and papers are so radioactive that they are stored in lead boxes and can only be opened by scientists wearing protective suits Marie’s radioactive notebook

12. Legacy Recognized worldwide as one of science’s “greats” One of the few elite scientists that was invited to the Solvay Conference on Electrons and Photons. Three of the Curie Institute workers have earned a Nobel Prize The Curie Institute continues to do important work today New York Times article

13. “Not only did she do outstanding work in her lifetime, and not only did she help humanity greatly by her work, but she invested all her work with the highest moral quality. All of this she accomplished with great strength, objectivity, and judgment. It is very rare to find all of these qualities in one individual.” Albert Einstein

14. Catalog Entry Marie Curie: Her Inspiring Story Explore the life and works of the influential scientist, Marie Curie. Learn about her life-saving contributions and how she pioneered a place for women in the world of science.

15. References " Marie Curie." Famous Scientists. Famous scientists.org. 8 Sep. 2014. Web. 2/23/2015. "Marie Curie - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 23 Feb 2015. "Marie Curie: Her Story in Brief." Marie Curie: Her Story in Brief. American Institute of Phsyics, 1 Jan. 1996. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.