Marie Curie, a Polish born French chemist and physicist, is a legend for many reasons. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the first person, and only woman, to win it twice. Marie’s research was in the field of radioactivity.
With the help of her husband Pierre Curie, she made numerous scientific discovers; including one showing that radiation did indeed come from the atom itself.
In 1903, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marie and Pierre Curie as well as Henri Becquerel for their work Curie was awarded another Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, for her discovery of radium and polonium, and subsequent research.
Marie Curie became internationally famous, and scientist came from around the world to study radioactivity with her. The Curie Institute in Paris, founded by Marie in 1921, is still a major cancer research facility to this day.
