Maria Sklodowska was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw. She changed her name to Marie when she enrolled at the Sorbonne University in Paris. While in Paris, she married Pierre Curie. Marie earned a master’s degree in both math and physics. Marie started studying and experimenting with uranium rays, hoping her work with this would earn her a doctorate, a degree that no women had ever achieved. During her experiments she coined the term “radioactivity.”

While studying uranium rays, Pierre and Marie discovered two new elements. They named one “polonium” after Marie’s home land and the other “radium” which is the Latin word for "ray." Marie received her doctorate in 1903, becoming the first women to receive one in France. The Curies also won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903. Pierre slipped on his way to the library on a very rainy day and fell in front of a horse-drawn wagon. The wagon ran over his head, instantly killing him. Marie died on July 4, 1934, from a blood disease often caused from getting too much radiation called "aplastic anemia."

"One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done."

~marie curie

For more information:

http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/label_france/ENGLISH/SCIENCES/CURIE/marie.html