Marie Curie (Marya Sklodowska) was born on 7 November 1867 in Warsaw Poland. She was the youngest of five children and was brought up in a poor but well-educated family. Marya excelled in her studies and won many prizes. At an early age she became committed to the ideal of Polish independence from Russia – who at the time were ruling Poland with an iron fist, and in particular, making life difficult for intellectuals. She yearned to be able to teach fellow Polish woman who were mostly condemned to zero education. Marie Curie was a Polish scientist who won a Nobel prize in both Chemistry and Physics. She made ground-breaking work in the field of Radioactivity, enabling radioactive isotypes to be isolated for the first time. During the First World War, Curie developed the practical use of X-Rays; she also discovered two new elements, polonium and radium. Her pioneering scientific work was made more remarkable because of the discrimination which existed against women in science at the time. She was the first female professor at the University of Paris and broke down many barriers for women in science.
