Her family

Her marriage marked the start of a partnership that was soon to achieve results of world significance, in particular the discovery of polonium in the summer of 1898 and that of radium a few months later. The birth of her two daughters, Irene and Eve, did not interrupt Maria's intensive scientific work. Throughout World War One, Marie Curie, with the help of her daughter, Irene, devoted herself to the development of the use of X-radiography. The Radium Institute which Irene had joined began to operate in earnest and it was to become a universal center for nuclear physics and chemistry. Marie became a member of the Academy of Science and devoted her researches to the study of chemistry of radioactive substances and the medical applications of these substances. Accompanied by her two daughters, Marie made a triumphant journey to the United States where President Harding presented her with a gram of radium bought as a result of a collection among American women. On July 4 1934, near Sallanches in France, she died of leukemia caused by her exposure to the radium that made her famous.