Marie Curie: A Life in Science
Women in Poland could not study at the university then, so young Marie Curie moved to Paris and began a life in science.
- A2 level
- 222 words
- about 3 min
- 5 questions
Marie Curie was a famous scientist. She was born in 1867 in Warsaw, Poland. When she was young, she wanted to study at a university. But in Poland at that time, women could not study at the university.
So in 1891, Marie moved to Paris, in France. There, she studied at the Sorbonne, a famous university. In 1895, she married a French scientist, Pierre Curie. After that, Marie and Pierre often worked together.
In 1898, Marie and Pierre two new . Elements are simple materials, like gold or silver. They named the first one polonium, after Marie's home country, Poland. They called the second one radium.
In 1903, Marie and Pierre won the in . They it with another scientist, Henri Becquerel. Marie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
But in 1906, something terrible happened. Pierre died in a street . It was a very sad time for Marie, but she did not stop her work.
In 1911, she won a second Nobel Prize, this time in . She is the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.
Marie Curie worked with for many years. She died in 1934. Her was her long work with radiation. Today, people all over the world remember her as a great scientist.
Key words in this text
These words are highlighted in the text; tap one there to see its meaning in context.
- discoveredverb
found something new that nobody knew about before
- elementsnoun
the simplest materials in the world; gold and silver are elements
- Nobel Prizenoun
a very important prize for the best work in science and some other areas
- physicsnoun
the science of things like light, heat and how things move
- sharedverb
had or got something together with other people
- accidentnoun
something bad that happens suddenly; people often get hurt
- chemistrynoun
the science of what things are made of and how they change
- radiationnoun
something that comes out of some materials, like radium; you cannot see it, and a lot of it can make people very sick
- illnessnoun
being sick
- connected tophrase
here: her long work with radiation was one reason for her illness
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