Marie curie (1867-1934)

 Background

She was born Maria Sklodowska as the fifth and youngest of Bronsilawa Boguska, a pianist, singer and teacher and Wladyslaw Skldowski, a professor of mathematics and physics. Her childhood nickname was Manya. From young, she was remarkable for her prodigious memory and at the age of 16, she won a gold medal on a completion of her secondary education at Russian lycee. When her father lost his savings through bad investment, she had to take work as a teacher and at the same time, take part clandestinely in the nationalist "free university", reading in Polish to women workers. At the age of 18, she took a post as governess, where she suffered an unhappy love affair. From her earnings, she was able to finance her sister Bronia's medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that she would later help her get an education.

In 1891, she went to Paris and began to follow the lectures Paul Appel and Gabriel Lippmann. There, she met physicists who were already well-known like Jean Perrin, Charles Maurain and Aime Cotton. Marie worked late hours at her students' quarters and virtually lived on bread and butter and tea. She began work in Lippmann's research laboratory and in 1894, was placed second in the license of mathematical sciences. It was then that she met Pierre Curie.