Marei Curie

Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. She was renowned for her work with radioactivity, and it was that work that would eventually end her life.

She was born Maria Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867. She was the fifth and last child of piano player and teacher Bronsilawa Boguska and mathematics and physics professor, Wladyslaw Sklodowski. Her childhood nickname was Manya. Her father was a freethinker and her mother was a Catholic.

Her family valued education, and so she began her education early. She possessed a remarkable memory. She graduated from secondary school when she was sixteen, receiving a gold medal for her work. Unfortunately her father made some bad investments and she had to go to work at a young age as a teacher, postponing the continuance of her own education. At the age of 18 she became a governess, and put her sister, Bronia, through school with the agreement that Bronia would return the favor- and she did.

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