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Revision as of 02:14, 19 July 2002 by Matusz (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Maria Sklodowska-Curie (1867-1934) was a pioneer in the early field of radiation.
She was born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 7, 1867.
Together with her husband, Pierre Curie, she was the first woman awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1903: "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel".
Eight years later, she received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1911 "in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element". In an unusual move, Curie intentionally did not patent the radium isolation process, instead leaving it open so the scientific community could research unhindered.
She died in 1934 from cancer-causing radiation poisoning.
Her eldest daughter, Irene Joliot-Curie also won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935, the year after Marie Curie died.
In 1995, Mme. Curie was the first woman laid to rest under the famous dome of The Panthéon in Paris on her own merits.
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