Madame Marie Curie

While in Paris, Marie studied and conducted scientific works. She received degrees in Physics and Mathematics and later founded the Curie Institutes in both Paris and Warsaw Poland. Her family also received prestigious Nobel Prizes. Her husband, Pierre Curie, her daughter Irene Joliot-Curie and her son-in-law Frederic Joliot-Curie all received the Nobel prize for their works.

Amongst Madame Curie's accomplishments was the discovery of the elements Radium and Polonium. She also was responsible for the discovery of radioactive isotopes. Curie also studied the uranium rays using an electrometer, an instrument that she, Pierre and Pierre's brother had invented. The Curie's undertook the daunting task of separating radium salt by crystallization.

During World War 1, Curie worked on mobile radiography units, used to treat injured soldiers. Through all of their work and research, little did the Curie's know what toll their exposure to radioactivity would take on Marie's life. Marie Curie died in 1934 of aplastic anemia, an illness definitely related to her exposure to radiation. Her husband Pierre died in 1906 in an accident.

Pictured here is Marie's Mobile Radiography Unit