Dr. Marie Curie

The Radioactive Woman

A Biographical Report on Dr.Marie Salomea Skłodowska-Curie

By: Lynsey
Marie Curie was an amazing person. She did things that most people would not dream of accomplishing. Today, I am going to tell you about her early life, her personal life, and her work. I hope that by the end of this report you agree that Marie Curie is an amazing, wonderful person.

First, I will discuss Maria’s early life and schooling. Maria Salomea Skłodowska was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland. She died on July 4, 1934 in Passy, Haute-Savoie, France from aplastic anemia as a result of radiation poisoning. Maria Skłodowska was born to Władysław Skłodowski (her father) and Bronisława Skłodowska (her mother). Tragically, when Maria was only ten years old, she lost her mother to tuberculosis. Since Maria could not attend the men-only University of Warsaw, she attended a “floating university.” A “floating university” is a place where there are classes held in secret. That was Maria’s early life and schooling.

Now, I am going to talk about Maria’s personal life. Maria went to France to further her education.When Maria went to France, she changed her name to the French version of her name, which is Marie. Marie Salomea Skłodowska became Marie Salomea Skłodowska-Curie on July 26, 1895. On that day she married Pierre Curie (1859-1906). Marie met Pierre in France, at the School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry. Mrs. Curie had two daughters with Pierre, Irène Joliot-Curie (1897-1956) and Ève Curie (1904-2007). That was basically her personal life.

Have you done anything in your life that you believe has truly had an effect on the world? The answer is most likely no. However, in Mrs.Curie’s case it is more than true. Mrs.Skłodowska-Curie was the first woman to get a doctorate in France, and the first person to win the Nobel Prize in two separate fields. Those fields included physics and chemistry. Besides that, she was the first woman ever to win a Nobel Prize. Marie received two awards for discovering two elements. The elements were polonium and radium. She named polonium after her home country of Poland. She called the other radium, because it was radioactive. Mrs.Curie actually invented the term radioactivity, which describes rays emitted by uranium. Ironically, Mrs.Curie died from radiation poisoning. She did not know that it would kill her. She did not die for nothing though, because now we know that too much exposure to radiation can kill you. My point is that Mrs.Curie did a lot in the world of science.

I hope you enjoyed my report. I also hope you learned something about Marie’s early life, her personal life, and her breakthrough discoveries in both the world of physics and the world of chemistry. I also hope that you agree with my opinion that Marie Curie is an awesome person. As Mrs.Curie once said,

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

I encourage you to try to understand things, and if you do indeed fear them, try to combat that fear with knowledge, because knowledge is power. I thank you for reading my report. For more information about Dr.Marie Salomea Skłodowska-Curie, please check out the sources below.

• "Marie Curie." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
• "Marie Curie." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
• "Marie Curie (1866-1934)." Marie Curie (1866-1934). N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
• Gunther, Shea. "7 Inventors Killed by Their Inventions." MNN. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
• "Happy Birthday, Marie Curie, Discoverer of Radium." Happy Birthday, Marie Curie, Discoverer of Radium. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
• "Marie Curie - Biographical." Marie Curie - Biographical. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.
• "Marie Curie Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.  
• "Eilat Gordin Levitan." Eilat Gordin Levitan. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2016.

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Presentation Notes:

"Bonjour mademoiselles, messieurs. I am glad I can talk with you today, but I can speak only briefly, because I am giving a lecture after this. You may ask me why I am so happy. Well, I just won two Nobel Prizes yesterday. I don't been to brag, but that achievement is very important to me. I think I need to back up and tell you how I got here. I was born November 7, 1867, and I died July 4, 1934. I was born in Warsaw, Poland. I am the first woman to get a doctorate in France, and as of yesterday, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win two Nobel Prizes. I won two because I discovered two elements, which I named polonium after my home country of Poland, and radium because it was radioactive. Do you know who I am?"