Influential Scientists Gallery

Marie Curie-Skolodowska with Pierre Curie

Undated picture showing Marie Curie-Skolodowska with Pierre Curie, working in their laboratory in Paris. Marie Curie and her husband, the French physicist, Pierre Curie, were the discoverers of radium and won the Nobel prize for physics in 1903. Pierre Curie was born in Paris 15 May 1859 and his most important contributions to physics was the discovery that the magnetic properties of substances change at certain temperature, known as the "Curie point." He became known for his work on radioactivity carried out jointly with his wife Marja (Marie) Sklodowska (born in Warsaw 07 November 1867) whom he married in 1895. On 18 July 1898, they announced the discovery of two new elements in the mineral uranium, polonium and radium. The work of the Curie couple laid the foundation for much of the later research in nuclear physics and chemistry. Marie Curie was the first person to receive two Nobel prizes when she was awarded the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1911. / AFP PHOTO / -

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