Marie Curie Timeline

Maria Salomea Skłodowska, later known as Marie Curie, is born in Warsaw, in what is at the time the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire.

Skłodowska wins a gold medal as top student in her class upon completion of her secondary education. Because her father has lost his savings through bad investment she has to go to work, finding employment first as a teacher and later as a governess. From her earnings she is able to finance her sister Bronislawa’s medical studies in Paris, France, with the understanding that Bronislawa will in turn later help her to get an education.

Skłodowska moves to Paris in 1891 to study at the Sorbonne. She begins to use the name Marie. She studies far into the night and completes degrees in physics and math. In the spring of 1894 she meets Pierre Curie, who is completing his doctorate of science.

Marie and Pierre marry on July 25. She takes her husband’s surname. Their marriage marks the beginning of a partnership that is soon to achieve results of world significance.

In 1896 a French scientist named Henri Becquerel finds that the element uranium gives off unusual rays of energy. He passes his findings on to Marie, who begins studying the phenomenon, which she later names radioactivity. In 1898 the Curies announce their discovery of two new elements, radium and polonium. They name polonium after Marie’s homeland of Poland.

Marie earns her doctorate of science in June, becoming the first woman in France to receive a doctoral degree. In November Marie and Pierre share with Becquerel the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery and research of radioactivity. Marie is the first woman to receive the honor. (In submitting its nomination to the Nobel committee, the French Academy of Sciences had not acknowledged Marie’s contributions and omitted her name, but it was later put forward after Pierre insisted that they be considered for the prize together.)

Pierre dies in a traffic accident on April 19. Marie takes over his professorship at the Sorbonne in May. She is the first woman to teach there. She devotes all of her energy to completing alone the scientific work that she and Pierre had undertaken.

Marie’s fundamental treatise on radioactivity is published.

Marie is awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, for the isolation of pure radium.

World War I begins in 1914. Throughout the war Marie, with the help of her daughter Irène devotes herself to making X-ray technology available for use in the medical treatment of wounded soldiers.

From this date Marie focuses her research on the chemistry of radioactive substances and the medical applications of these substances.

Marie helps open the Radium Institute in Warsaw. Her sister, Bronislawa, is named director of the institute.

Marie dies near Sallanches, France. Her death is the result of leukemia caused by exposure to radiation.

American chemists discover a new element. They name it curium in honor of Marie and Pierre Curie.