2. Biography
• Born on 7 November 1867
• Died on 4 July 1934
• Her parents were teachers
• Have 4 siblings
• Mother died in 1878 from TB when
she was only nine
3. • After her mother died, her father could not support her
anymore
• Became a governess and kept reading and studying to
quench her thirst for knowledge which is her passion
• Became a teacher to be more independent
• Her sister offered her to go Paris in 1891 and she
accepted the offer
• Entered Sorbonne University where she studied maths
and physics
• Married to Pierre Curie
Life about her
4. Discovery
● Found out that uranium ore were a great deal
more radioactive than than pure element uranium
● Polonium was a black powder 330 times more
radioactive than uranium which is in pitchblende
● She discovered radioactive elements polonium
and radium
● She improve the understanding of radioactivity
and effects of x-rays
5. Problems faced
● Had to work on the pitchblende without
uranium to grind,dissolve, filter, precipitating,
collect, redissolve, crystallising and
recrystallising.
● Had raw and inflamed hands to work as they
persevered, ignoring the dangers and they
continued handling the highly radioactive
materials
6. Achievements
● 1st Nobel Prize in 1903 for Physics (with Pierre
Curie and Professor Becquerel)
● 2nd Nobel Prize in 1911 for Chemistry for creating
means of measuring Radioactivity
● In World War l, she worked to develop small,
mobile x-ray units to diagnose injuries near
battlefront
● Ellan Richards Research Prize(1921)
● Grand Prize du’ Marquis d’ Argenteuil(1923)
● Cameron Prize from Edinburgh University (1931)
7. Death & Legacy
● Died of Pernicious anaemia which developed after years of
exposure of radiation
● Left with 2 daughters, Irene(born in 1988) & Eve (1904)
Irene worked on the nucleus of atom with her husband, Frederic
Joliot & died of radiation-related illness, leukaemia
● Irene’s daughter, Dr Helene Langevin Joliot pursued a career in
nuclear physics & became a research emeritus of National
Centre for Scientific Research in Paris
● Eve became a journalist and writer
● First woman to be awarded a place in Patheon
● Life as a scientist which flourished because of her ability to
observe, deduce and predict
