Marie Curie: A Life in Science

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 discovered two new elements. 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 Nobel Prize in Physics. They shared 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 accident. 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 chemistry. She is the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.

Marie Curie worked with radiation for many years. She died in 1934. Her illness was connected to her long work with radiation. Today, people all over the world remember her as a great scientist.