Who was Marie Curie? Marie Curie (1867–1934) was a Polish-born, French-based physicist and chemist who coined the word “radioactivity”, discovered polonium and radium, and became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. She remains the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.
Who was Marie Curie?
Marie Curie was born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw on 7 November 1867. She became one of the most important scientists in history, and these Marie Curie facts show why her name still turns up in every GCSE physics course that covers radioactivity.
Her work changed how we understand the atom. Before her research, nobody had a word for the way some elements give off energy by themselves. She named the effect, measured it carefully, and then went hunting for the elements responsible.
So why is Marie Curie famous? Mostly for a list of firsts:
- She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (Physics, 1903, shared with Henri Becquerel and Pierre Curie).
- She was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes (Chemistry, 1911, awarded to her alone).
- She is still the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.
- She was the first woman professor at the Sorbonne in Paris.
- She was the first woman honoured in the Panthéon in Paris on her own merits (1995).
The two Marie Curie discoveries that made her name were the elements polonium and radium, both found in 1898 with her husband Pierre. We cover them properly later in this guide.
Early life in Warsaw
Maria was the youngest of five children, and both her parents were teachers. Warsaw was then part of the Russian Empire, and education was tightly controlled. Women were not allowed to attend university in Russian-ruled Poland, which closed the most obvious route for a gifted girl who loved science.
Instead, she joined the secret “Flying University”, an underground set of classes that moved from place to place to avoid the authorities. It was learning in the shadows, but it kept her ambition alive.
Her family had little money, and her sister Bronisława wanted to study medicine in Paris. The sisters made a deal. Maria worked as a governess to help pay for Bronisława’s studies, and her turn in Paris would come afterwards. It was a long wait, and it shows the determination that marked the rest of her career.
Paris, the Sorbonne and Pierre Curie
In 1891 she moved to Paris and enrolled at the Sorbonne (the University of Paris). She had to work hard to keep up, but it paid off. She earned a degree in physics in 1893, placing first in her class, and a degree in mathematics in 1894.
In 1894 she met the physicist Pierre Curie. They shared a passion for research and quickly became close, and they married in July 1895. Their daughters were Irène, born in 1897, and Ève, born in 1904. Irène would grow up to win a Nobel Prize of her own.
It is worth pausing on how physics looked at the time. Atoms were still thought of as solid, indivisible balls, and the idea that an element could give off energy on its own was brand new. Scientists today dream of a single framework that links every force and particle, a hunt explained in our guide to the theory of everything in physics. Marie and Pierre worked at the other end of that story, when each fresh measurement could overturn what textbooks said.
Their partnership was also practical. Pierre was an expert in measuring delicate electrical effects, and Marie brought patience and a gift for careful, repeated experiments. Together they were ready for the discovery that made them famous.
Next, we follow her into the laboratory and see how she turned a strange glow of invisible rays into a new branch of science.
Discovering radioactivity
The story of Marie Curie’s discoveries begins with a puzzle from 1896. The French physicist Henri Becquerel found that uranium salts give off mysterious rays, even when they are kept in the dark. He had, in fact, discovered radioactivity, but he did not know what caused it.
Marie chose these “uranium rays” as the subject of her doctorate. It was a clever choice: almost nobody else was studying them, so she could make her own measurements from scratch.
Her main tool was an electrometer built by Pierre and his brother Jacques, a delicate instrument that detects very small electrical effects. Uranium’s rays made the air around it conduct electricity slightly, and the electrometer let her measure that effect carefully and repeatedly.
An atomic property
Her key finding was simple but powerful. The strength of the rays depended only on the amount of uranium present. It did not matter whether the uranium was in a powder, a solid or a compound, and it did not change with the conditions around it.
That told her the rays came from the uranium atoms themselves. Radioactivity was not the result of a chemical reaction or a trick of the sample. It was an atomic property, something happening inside the atom.
She gave the phenomenon its name, radioactivity, and she showed that uranium was not the only element that did it. Thorium was radioactive too.
Polonium and radium: two new elements
While measuring uranium ores, Marie noticed something odd. Pitchblende, the ore that uranium is extracted from, was more radioactive than the uranium in it could explain. Something else in the rock had to be giving off rays.
Marie and Pierre set out to find it. In July 1898 they announced a new element, which Marie named polonium after her native Poland. In December 1898 they announced a second, radium.
| Element | Symbol | Atomic number | Discovered | Named after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polonium | Po | 84 | July 1898 | Poland |
| Radium | Ra | 88 | December 1898 | Latin radius, meaning “ray” |
Tonnes of ore, a tiny sample
Announcing an element is one thing. Proving it exists is another. Chemists wanted to see a pure sample, and the new elements were present in pitchblende only in minute traces.
So the Curies processed tonnes of pitchblende residue in a shed, working through it in batches to separate out the radioactive material. It was slow, physically exhausting work.
By 1902 the result was about 0.1 g of radium chloride. That is roughly the mass of a few grains of rice, produced from tonnes of ore. In 1910 Marie, working with André Debierne, went further and isolated pure radium metal.
What is radioactivity?
For GCSE, you need to explain what Marie Curie was measuring. Radioactivity happens when an unstable nucleus emits radiation to become more stable. Polonium, radium, uranium and thorium all have unstable nuclei. To see how nuclei are built, read our guide to atomic structure, mass number and atomic number.
There are three types of radiation you need to know.
| Type | What it is | Stopped by |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha (α) | A helium nucleus (2 protons and 2 neutrons) | A sheet of paper or a few centimetres of air |
| Beta (β) | A fast-moving electron from the nucleus | A few millimetres of aluminium |
| Gamma (γ) | An electromagnetic wave | Thick lead or concrete reduces it |
An alpha particle is simply a helium nucleus, so if you want to know more about that element, see our page on helium and its chemical properties.
Half-life
Radioactive decay is random. You cannot predict when one particular nucleus will decay, but for a large sample the pattern is reliable. The half-life is the time it takes for half of the unstable nuclei in a sample to decay.
after one half-life: ½ left · after two: ¼ left · after three: ⅛ left
Half-lives vary enormously. The most common radium isotope, radium-226, has a half-life of about 1,600 years, which is one reason Marie Curie’s radium was so long-lasting.
Why it matters
Alpha, beta and gamma radiation are all ionising radiation. They can knock electrons out of atoms and damage living cells. That is why radiation can be dangerous, and why it can also be useful: in radiotherapy, carefully aimed radiation is used to kill cancer cells.
Define the term half-life. (1 mark)
The time taken for half of the unstable nuclei in a sample to decay.
Name the type of radiation that is a helium nucleus, and say which type is an electromagnetic wave. (2 marks)
Alpha radiation is a helium nucleus; gamma radiation is an electromagnetic wave.
Two Nobel Prizes
The Marie Curie Nobel Prize story is really two stories, eight years apart. In 1903 she shared the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1911 she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on her own. Few scientists in history have managed anything like it.
The 1903 physics prize was shared by three people: Henri Becquerel, Pierre Curie and Marie Curie. Becquerel had discovered radioactivity in 1896, and the Curies had followed it up with years of painstaking measurements. That year Marie was also finishing her doctorate. She became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
The 1911 chemistry prize was hers alone. It recognised the discovery of polonium and radium, and the isolation of radium. In 1910, working with André Debierne, she had produced pure radium metal, which proved beyond doubt that radium was a genuine new element and not a mixture or a rumour.
Here is the road to those two prizes at a glance.
- 1894: Marie meets Pierre Curie in Paris.
- 1895: Marie and Pierre marry in July.
- 1898: they discover polonium (July) and radium (December).
- 1903: Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with Becquerel and Pierre. Marie also completes her doctorate.
- 1906: Pierre dies, and Marie takes over his professorship.
- 1910: she isolates pure radium metal with André Debierne.
- 1911: Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awarded to Marie alone.
Tragedy and courage: losing Pierre
Between her two prizes came the worst moment of Marie Curie’s life. On 19 April 1906, Pierre was hit by a horse-drawn wagon in Paris and died. He and Marie had worked side by side for years, and their daughters Irène and Ève were still young. Irène had been born in 1897 and Ève in 1904.
Marie did not step back from science. She took over Pierre’s teaching post in 1906, becoming the first woman to teach at that level at the Sorbonne, and was made a full professor in 1908. It was a job that no woman had held there before, and she held it while bringing up two children on her own.
Her next big result came four years later. In 1910 she isolated pure radium metal, and in 1911 the second Nobel Prize followed. Grief did not end her research. It seems to have made her more determined to carry on the work she and Pierre had begun.
Science that saved lives: X-ray cars in World War I
When the First World War began, Marie Curie turned her knowledge to a practical problem. Surgeons needed to see broken bones and find bullets or shrapnel inside wounded soldiers, and X-ray machines were mostly stuck in hospitals far from the front.
Her answer was the mobile X-ray unit: a vehicle carrying X-ray equipment that could be driven close to the fighting. French soldiers nicknamed these vehicles the petites Curies, or “little Curies”. During the war she equipped about 20 of these vehicles and helped set up about 200 fixed radiology posts.
She trained women to operate the equipment, and her daughter Irène helped too. According to estimates, over a million soldiers were X-rayed with the equipment she helped to set up.
The idea behind it is still at the heart of medicine. Doctors use imaging to look inside the body without cutting it open. X-rays are one form of that, and modern scanners such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) are descendants of the same goal: see the problem first, then treat it.
Radium and medicine
Marie Curie’s discoveries did not stay in the laboratory. Radioactive radiation is a type of ionising radiation, and ionising radiation can damage living cells. That sounds dangerous, and it is, but doctors realised it could also be used on purpose. Directed carefully at a tumour, radiation can kill cancer cells. This is the basis of radiotherapy.
The Curies chose not to patent the process for isolating radium. That meant other scientists and doctors could study and use the element freely. The work that followed helped to build the field of radiation medicine.
Marie also made sure the research had a proper home. The Radium Institute (Institut du Radium) in Paris was completed in 1914, and today it is known as the Institut Curie. In 1932 a second Radium Institute opened in Warsaw, the city where she was born.
Medicine has moved a long way since then. Today’s researchers are even working at the scale of single molecules, as you can see in our article on the uses of nanotechnology in medicine. Yet the principle is the same one the Curies explored: understand how a hidden form of energy behaves, then put it to work for patients.
Radium also had a darker side. It glowed with a faint blue light in the dark, and it was later used in luminous paint. The workers who applied that paint, known as the “Radium Girls”, were harmed. People did not yet understand how dangerous radium could be, and Marie herself carried radium samples in her pockets. We return to what that meant for her health in the next section.
How did Marie Curie die?
Marie Curie died on 4 July 1934 at a sanatorium in Passy, Haute-Savoie, France. The cause was aplastic anaemia, a condition in which the bone marrow stops making enough new blood cells. It was very likely caused by many years of exposure to radiation, both from her work with radium and from the X-ray equipment she used in World War I.
That sounds shocking today, but the dangers were not understood in her lifetime. Radiation had only just been discovered, and nobody knew how much was safe. Marie and her colleagues handled radioactive materials with bare hands, and she carried radium samples in her pockets. To her, they were fascinating new substances, not poisons.
Her death is not a reason to fear all radiation. It is a reminder of why the rules we have now exist. Today, radioactive sources are handled with shielding, distance, short exposure times and careful monitoring, because ionising radiation can damage cells. The same property that harms healthy tissue is what makes radiotherapy work, because it can be aimed to kill cancer cells.
Marie Curie’s notebooks are still radioactive
More than ninety years after her death, Marie Curie’s notebooks and papers are still radioactive. They were contaminated by the radium she worked with, and they will stay that way for a very long time. They are now kept in lead-lined boxes at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.
Anyone who wants to read them must sign a waiver first and wear protective clothing.
The reason is a half-life. Radium-226 has a half-life of about 1,600 years, which means that after that time, half of the radium-226 nuclei in a sample will have decayed. After another 1,600 years, half of what is left will have gone, and so on. Use the calculator below to see how the amount falls over time.
Marie Curie’s legacy
Marie Curie’s influence did not end in 1934. In 1995, her remains and those of Pierre were moved to the Panthéon in Paris. She was the first woman honoured there on her own merits.
Science also carries her name in several ways.
- Curium. The element curium (Cm, atomic number 96) was named in 1944 after Marie and Pierre Curie. You can explore how elements fit into the bigger picture in what is the most common element in the universe.
- The curie. The curie (Ci) is an old unit of radioactivity. One curie equals 3.7 × 10¹⁰ becquerels, the modern SI unit.
- Radium Institutes. The Radium Institute in Paris, completed in 1914, is today’s Institut Curie. A second Radium Institute opened in Warsaw in 1932.
Her family continued the work. Her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Frédéric Joliot for the discovery of artificial radioactivity. The Curie family is one of the most decorated in Nobel history: Marie, Pierre, Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie won five Nobel Prizes between them.
The choice not to patent the radium-isolation process is part of her story too. By keeping the method open, the Curies allowed other scientists to build on the work freely.
A quote often attributed to her sums up her attitude: "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." Another saying often attributed to her begins, "We must believe that we are gifted for something…". Because quotations like these are often passed along without a firm source, treat them as attributed rather than certain.
If her story makes you curious about a career in the lab, see top careers in chemistry. Her path from a governess in Warsaw to two Nobel Prizes shows what persistence can do.
Marie Curie flash cards
Frequently asked questions about Marie Curie
Who was Marie Curie?
Marie Curie was a Polish-born physicist and chemist who worked in France. Born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw in 1867, she studied radioactivity, discovered polonium and radium with her husband Pierre, and won two Nobel Prizes. She was also the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first woman professor at the Sorbonne.
What did Marie Curie discover?
Marie Curie discovered the elements polonium and radium with Pierre in 1898, working from pitchblende ore. She also coined the word "radioactivity", showed that it is an atomic property, and found that thorium is radioactive too. In 1910, with André Debierne, she isolated pure radium metal.
Why is Marie Curie famous?
Marie Curie is famous for pioneering research on radioactivity and for discovering polonium and radium. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win two, and still the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences. Her World War I X-ray units also saved lives.
How many Nobel Prizes did Marie Curie win?
Marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes. In 1903 she shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel. In 1911 she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alone, for discovering polonium and radium and isolating radium. She is still the only person to win Nobels in two different sciences.
Was Marie Curie the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?
Yes. When Marie Curie shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel, she became the first woman ever to win a Nobel Prize. Her second prize, in Chemistry in 1911, made her the first person to win two Nobel Prizes. Her daughter Irène later won one too.
How did Marie Curie die?
Marie Curie died on 4 July 1934 at a sanatorium in Passy, Haute-Savoie, France. The cause was aplastic anaemia, very likely linked to long exposure to radiation from her radium work and the X-ray equipment she used in World War I. The dangers of radiation were not understood at the time.
Are Marie Curie’s notebooks still radioactive?
Yes. Her notebooks and papers are still radioactive because they are contaminated with radium-226, which has a half-life of about 1,600 years. They are kept in lead-lined boxes at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, and readers must sign a waiver and wear protective clothing.
What did Marie Curie do in World War 1?
During World War I, Marie Curie developed mobile X-ray units nicknamed "petites Curies" (little Curies). There were about 20 vehicles and about 200 fixed radiology posts. She trained women operators, and Irène helped. An estimated million or more soldiers were X-rayed.
What was Marie Curie’s real name?
Marie Curie was born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw on 7 November 1867, the youngest of five children. She became known as Marie after moving to Paris in 1891, and took the surname Curie when she married Pierre Curie in July 1895. She never forgot Poland, naming polonium after it.
