The Radium Woman: A Life of Madame Curie

The remarkable story of Marie Curie born in Russian-dominated Poland in 1867 who rose to become a world-famous scientist, the first woman to win a Nobel prize, the first person to win a Nobel prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different fields. As the fifth child in a family where education was paramount, Manya was a voracious learner. Her father taught Mathematics and Physics in a Russian school and shared those interests with his children. Opportunities for girls being limited, Manya earned money to send her older sister Bronia to Paris where she trained to become a doctor. After Bronia married, she sent for Manya, who took the name Marie on arriving in Paris and embarked on her own scientific education. Chancing to meet Pierre Curie in a search for laboratory space, she soon had a partner in her scientific endeavors. After daughter Irene arrived in 1897, she became a master at juggling all her responsibilities, only increased by the birth of daughter Eve in 1904. After the death of Pierre in a street accident, Marie was appointed to the position he held at the Sorbonne. Throughout World War I Marie and Irene worked to bring radiography apparatus to wounded soldiers. Through her scientific discoveries she paved the way for radiography, treatment of cancer, and nuclear physics in the modern era.