Marie Curie

1867 – 1934

Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie was a Polish-French physicist and chemist whose pioneering research on radioactivity—a term she coined—made her the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields, and the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris. She shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel for the discovery of radioactivity, and won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the isolation of the elements radium and polonium. During World War I she developed mobile radiography units that brought x-ray imaging to the front lines, treating an estimated million wounded soldiers.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM