A set of instruments used by Marie Curie to measure natural radioactivity

A set of instruments used by Marie Curie to measure natural radioactivity.

Marie Curie-Skłodowska (1867-1934), a distinguished Polish physicist and chemist who lived and worked in France. The first woman to become Professor at Sorbonne, wife of Pierre Curie. In 1898, jointly with her husband, she discovered radium and polonium. She was a co-originator of the science of radioactivity (she introduced the name radioactivity), and an author of pioneering works in the field of physics and nuclear chemistry.

She was awarded a Nobel Prize twice. First, in 1903, (in physics) jointly with her husband, for the research on the natural radioactivity phenomenon discovered by H. Becquerel. Then in 1911, (in chemistry) for isolating pure radium.

Her daughter, Irene Joliot-Curie, and her husband Frederic Joliot, were also awarded a Nobel Prize in 1935. This made the Curies the family with the most Nobel prizes.

In 1914, she founded the Radium Institute in Paris. Owing to her initiative, the Radium Institute in Warsaw was established in 1932.