20 Interesting Marie Curie Facts

By Karin Lehnardt, Senior Writer

Published January 10, 2025

Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize; she won in physics in 1903 for her work in radioactivity. When she won in chemistry in 1911 for her work on radium and polonium, she became the first person, man or woman, to win two Nobel Prizes._[4]
Marie Curie and her husband were the first married couple to win the Nobel Prize; they shared the prize in 1903._[1]
In 1920, Marie Curie founded the Curie Institute in Paris; in 1932, she founded the Curie Institute in Warsaw. Both are still major research centers._[7]
Marie Curie coined the term "radioactivity" to describe the event of certain elements emitting radiation._[5]

Though Marie Curie was born a Catholic, after her sister and mother died when she was young, she became an agnostic

Marie Curie was the first woman entombed in the Paris Panthéon (1995) on her own merits. She was the first and one of only five women interred there._[1]
Marie Curie developed mobile radiography units for field hospitals during WWI. She even helped drive the "Little Curies" despite the danger of attack._[1]
Marie Curie died in 1934 at the age of 66 due to aplastic anemia, a disease that affects the bone marrow and blood cell production. Her exposure to radiation likely caused her death. Her work was foundational in creating safety protocols related to radiation._[7]
Curie was the first woman in the world to receive a PhD from a French university, and she was the first woman to be employed as a professor at the University of Paris._[1]

Have no fear of perfection. You'll never reach it.

- Marie Curie

Though Curie and her husband discovered radium, they refused to patent it and instead openly distributed the secrets of its production. By the 1920s, there was a radium boom. The public was fascinated with the glowing green material, and it became so expensive that the Curies could not afford to buy it._[8]
Even though she was a top student in her secondary school in Poland, Marie Curie could not attend the male-only University of Warsaw. Instead, she attended Warsaw's "floating university," which held informal and secret classes._[3]
Curie and her husband did not realize how dangerous radioactivity was, and they carried samples of Radium. Many of their personal belongings are still so radioactive that they cannot be safely touched._[7]
After Curie sank into a deep depression, Einstein wrote her a letter describing his admiration for her and telling her to ignore the media._[6]
Marie and Pierre Curie won a combined 5 Nobel Prizes._[2]

Marie Curie said, “Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.”

Marie Curie is the only woman to win a Nobel Prize in two different fields._[1]
After her mother died of tuberculosis, Marie Curie's father could no longer support her. Marie became a governess, and she read and studied in her free time. She later went to Paris with her sister and entered Sorbonne University._[7]
While Marie was studying in Paris in 1894, she met fellow scientist Pierre Curie, and they married a year later. She changed her name from Maria to Marie._[2]
Marie Curie's deathbed question asked how it was that she died: "Was it done with radium or mesothorium?"_[7]

Marie was the youngest of five children and was beloved by her brother and sisters

Marie Curie was born Maria Sklodowska on November 2, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland. She was the youngest of five children. Her parents were poor schoolteachers._[3]
Though Marie Curie was a French citizen, she never forgot her Polish roots. She taught her daughters Polish and took them to the Polish countryside to visit._[3]
Although Marie Curie did most of her work in Europe, she did meet two U.S. presidents. The first was President Harding, in 1921, to receive a gram of radium for her work, which was crowdfunded by American women. The second was in 1929, to receive $50,000 (enough to buy a gram of radium). This visit was two days after the stock market crash and more solemn._[8]