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Marie Curie Her Notebooks Are Still Radioactive
More than a century later, Marie Curie's notebooks are still radioactive. They are kept in lead-lined boxes in Paris.
Maria Sklodowska grew up in Russian-ruled Poland, where women could not go to university. She studied at an illegal underground school, worked six years as a governess to pay for her sister's studies, and arrived in Paris at 24 with almost nothing. With Pierre Curie she discovered polonium and radium, coined the word "radioactivity", and became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and later the only person ever to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.
She drove X-ray units to the front in World War I, carried radium in her pockets, and died in 1934 of a disease almost certainly caused by radiation. Today, radiation treats millions of cancer patients.
The facts behind this file
What the record shows
- Women could not study at university in Russian-ruled Warsaw, so she studied at the secret 'Flying University'.
- She worked as a governess for at least two years, in Szczuki, to help pay for her sister's studies, and moved to Paris in 1891.
- She coined the word 'radioactivity'.
- She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (Physics, 1903) and won a second in Chemistry (1911). She is still the only person with Nobel Prizes in two different sciences (Linus Pauling also won two, but one was for Peace).
- In the First World War she set up mobile X-ray units for the front.
- She carried test tubes of radioactive isotopes in her pockets. She died on 4 July 1934 of aplastic anaemia, most likely caused by radiation.
- Her notebooks are still radioactive and are kept in lead-lined boxes.
Main sources
- Ève Curie, Madame Curie (1938)
- Robert Reid, Marie Curie (1974)
Spotted a mistake or know a better source? Tell us.
Further reading
- Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie A short, readable life of Marie Curie. View on Amazon →
- Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie, a Tale of Love and Fallout An illustrated book, beautiful to look at. View on Amazon →
As an Amazon Associate, Inventor Files earns from qualifying purchases. It costs you nothing extra.
Image & film credits
- Marie Curie's notebooks, Pierre Curie portrait, Pierre and Marie Curie at work, Radium Institute: Wellcome Collection, CC BY 4.0 ·
- Irène and Marie Curie, 1925: CC BY 4.0 · Bibliothèque nationale de France, Richelieu: GFreihalter, CC BY-SA 3.0 ·
- Pitchblende (uraninite): 책읽는달팽, CC BY-SA 3.0 · WWI X-ray truck: National Museum of Health and Medicine, CC BY 2.0.
- Other archival photos are public domain or CC0; video clips from Pexels. Music and sound made for this video.
