Marie Curie: The Scientist Who Discovered the Secrets of Radioactivity

On November seventh, eighteen sixty-seven, Maria Salomea Skłodowska was born in Warsaw, Poland. She was a physicist and chemist, and her academic field was physics and chemistry, with a particular focus on radioactivity.

Marie Curie is one of the most iconic figures in the history of science and a pioneer in radioactivity research. Together with her husband Pierre Curie, she discovered two new elements: polonium in eighteen ninety-eight, named after her homeland Poland, and radium later that same year. It was also Curie who coined the term "radioactivity" to describe the phenomenon. Her work was not only theoretical; she spent countless hours purifying tons of ore to isolate the new elements in their pure form. For her research, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in nineteen hundred and three, jointly with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel, and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in nineteen hundred and eleven – thus becoming the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes. During the First World War, she developed mobile X-ray units, called "petites Curies," to aid injured soldiers. Her legacy extends far beyond her concrete discoveries; she is a symbol of perseverance, curiosity, and women's place in science.