Born Marja Sklodowska, Marie Curie was born in Warsaw on November 7,
1867. Her father taught high school physics. In 1891 she went to Paris (where she changed
her name to Marie) and enrolled in the Sorbonne. Two years later she passed the
examination for her degree in physics, ranking in first place. She met Pierre Curie in
1894, and they married in 1895. Marie Curie was interested in the recent discoveries of
radiation. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen had discovered X rays in 1895, and in 1896 Antoine
Henri Becquerel had discovered that the element uranium gives off similar invisible
radiations. Curie thus began studying uranium radiations, and, using piezoelectric
techniques devised by her husband, carefully measured the radiations in pitchblende, an
ore containing uranium. When she found that the radiations from the ore were more intense
than those from uranium itself, she realized that unknown elements, even more radioactive
than uranium, must be present. Marie Curie was the first to use the term radioactive to
describe elements that give off radiations as their nuclei break down
"Curie, Marie," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994
Microsoft Corporation. Copyright
(c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.
Other Links of interest
Maria Sklodowska-Curie
