Madame Marie Curie was one of first woman scientists and one of the great scientists of the 20th century. She discovered radium and paved the way to nuclear physics and cancer therapy.
Madame Curie was born in 1867 in Warsaw, Poland. Marie went to Paris, France, to study physics, mathematics and chemistry. where she met Pierre Curie, who was a professor in the School of Physics. They were married in 1895. She received her Doctor of Science Degree ad after Pierre Curie's death, she became the first woman Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences.
Handling minerals, Madame Curie noticed that Thorium was radioactive. Pierre had tested radium on his ski, which caused a burn. They realized radium's effect on humans and Madame Curie and Pierre Curie won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 for their study of radium. Madame Curie also received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911 for her study of radioactivity.
Madame Curie had to fight prejudices of her time. When in 1910 Madame Curies competed for the membership of the Academy of Sciences, it was an all-male society. In 1911 Madame Curie lost her bid for membership in the Academy of Sciences. She was furious a never tried to join again. It was not until 1979 that the Academy of sciences could accept a woman.
After having been exposed, in her research, to incredible levels of radiation, Madame Curie developed leukemia a died-on 4 July 1934 in France. Madame Curie was the only woman laid to rest alongside Victor Hugo and other great figures under the famous dome of the Pantheon i Paris for her own merits.