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Genially about Polish physicist and chemist Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize

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Marie Curie

Marie Curie was a Polish physicist and chemist. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, and she was the first person and the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice.

THE FIRST WOMAN TO WIN THE NOBEL PRIZE

Marie Curie was a Polish physicist and chemist. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, and she was the first person and the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice.

Marie Curie met her soon-to-be husband, physicist Pierre Curie, in 1894, and they married in 1895. Together, they discovered the element polonium in 1898 (which Curie named after her home country, Poland). They also discovered radium in 1898. Curie began working on a thesis, conducting work on a newly discovered phenomenon called “radioactivity,” a term she coined. With the help of one of Pierre’s students, Curie obtained pure radium in its metallic state, and she received her doctorate of science in 1903 based on these findings. Marie and Pierre Curie, along with French physicist Henri Becquerel, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for their work. Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize.

Marie Curie was born in Poland as Maria Salomea Sklodowska in 1867. Her intelligence was evident from a young age, and she won a gold medal at 16 years old upon finishing her secondary education. In 1861, Curie moved to Paris and began attending lectures of physicists and mathematicians at the Sorbonne. Curie was first in her class of physical sciences in 1893, and placed second in her class of mathematical sciences in 1894. Around this time, she began working in the research library of French physicist Gabriel Lippmann.

Marie and Pierre Curie had two daughters in 1987 and 1904, but Curie continued her work. She was appointed as a physics lecturer at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in 1900, and in 1904 she became the chief assistant in the laboratory that Pierre Curie directed. Unfortunately, Pierre died in 1906. As a result, Curie was appointed his position as a professor at the University of Paris - she was the first woman to become a professor there.

Pierre’s death only pushed Marie Curie to work harder to achieve the goals they had been working towards together. She became titular professor at the University of Paris in 1908, and published her fundamental treatise on radioactivity in 1910. She was awarded the Nobel Prize again in 1911, this time for Chemistry, for her work isolating pure radium. She was the first person and is the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice.

During World War I, Curie worked on developing x-ray technology. She even developed mobile radiography units to provide x-rays to hospitals in the field. She continued studying radioactive substances and their potential for use in the medical field. She gave lectures around the world, and saw the launch of the Curie Foundation in Paris. However, Curie unfortunately passed away in 1934 from complications from her exposure to radiation.