The two-time Nobel prize winner Marie Curie was born 150 years ago

Marie Sklodowska (here in the middle of her siblings Zosia, Hela, Josef and Bronya) was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw. Her father Wladyslaw Slodowski was a maths and physics teacher. Her mother Bronislawa was head teacher of a girls' boarding school.

Marie Curie's mother, Bronislawa Slodowska, spent her whole education at a prestigious girls' boarding school in Warsaw's Freta Street. Afterwards she herself worked there as a teacher before becoming the head teacher. When Bronislawa died Marie was only 13 years old.

In 1883, at the age of 15, Marie completed her secondary education at the top of her class. But as a girl she was not allowed to go to university in Poland. As her father could not fund studies for her abroad, Marie worked as a private tutor for wealthy families and taught farmers' children reading and writing. Meanwhile, she attended secretly organized classes.

In 1891, as a young student, Marie went to Paris. There, she could register in physics at Sorbonne University. She was one of 23 girls among 1,825 students. Though the French language was hard for her, she passed her exams. In 1896, with her colleague Henri Becquerell, she discovered that uranium calium sulfate dyes photographic plates black.

When Marie first met him in 1894, Pierre Curie was leading the research laboratory of the municipal technical college for industrial physics and chemistry (ESPCI). Their common passion for science soon brought them closer together and they married on July 26, 1895.

Marie continued to explore radioactivity, among other things with this machine she developed with Pierre. It is a piezoelectric electrometer that can measure the elctric conductivity of air containing radium. In 1898, Marie and Pierre discovered polonium. It was named after Marie's home country Poland.

Marie's doctorate dissertation about radioactive substances caused a big furor among scientists. Within one year, it was translated into five languages in 17 editions. By this time, Marie and Pierre were already starting to show the first symptoms of radiation sickness.

In the same year of Marie‘s doctorate, 1903, she and her husband received the Nobel Prize for Physics of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, which noted "the extraordinary achievements" they had acquired with their research on radiation.

Marie Curie gave birth to her first daughter Irène in 1897. Seven years later she had her second daughter Ève. Ève barely got to know her father, who died in 1906 after he suffered an accident with a horse and cart. After that, the faculty recommended Marie to become the new head of the laboratory. She was the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne University.

Marie Curie became a full physics professor in 1908, the first woman to achieve the distinction. She lectured at the Paris Radium Institute, founded previously by her husband. The institute came to establish international measuring standards for radioactivity. In honour of both Marie and Pierre, the unit of measurement was named "Curie".

During World War I, Marie Curie‘s work at the Paris Radium Institute focussed more on medicine. She developed a mobile x-ray car that first-aid attendants could take to the front. This photo shows Marie at the Institute with a delegation of the American Expeditionary Corps. The other woman standing at the desk is Marie‘s daughter Irène.

In 1920, Marie Curie travelled to the United States. The media celebrated her more as a healer than a scientist. Besides visiting the White House (the photo shows her with US President Warren Harding) and doing a touristic programme, Marie Curie also gave lectures to female academics and visited research facilities, as well as chemical companies.

During stays at diFferent US universities, Marie Curie was awarded nine honorary doctorates. After her return she used her fame to argue for more intense international cooperation at the newly founded League of Nations. Amongst other things, Marie wanted to achieve reliable guidelines for publications, copyright and scholarships.

Marie's older daughter lrène became a famous physicist herself. This photo shows her and her husband Jean-Frederic Joliot-Curie in the laboratory. In 1935, both received a Nobel Prize for the discovery of artificial radioactivity.