Marie Curie, or Madame Curie as she is fondly remembered, is one of the women who have become significant figures in the sciences.
With her brilliant mind, she has discovered radioactivity, which led to the isolation of polonium, stamping her mark in the world forever.
On her birthday today, commemorate Madame Curie's legacy by learning about five facts that you might have not known about the scientist.
1. The First Person And Only Woman To Have Two Nobel Prizes In Separate Sciences
Marie Curie won her first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with her husband Pierre, and physicist Henri Becquerel for her discovery of radioactivity.
Curie built on Becquerel;s observation of uranium, and came up with the hypothesis people now know as the subatomic particles released as the atoms decay in uranium, the Smithsonian Magazine says.
With this, she set out to measure the intensity of these uranium rays, and was puzzled by the intensity of the radiation the uranium and thorium emitted.
However, in 1911, she won a more notable Nobel Prize in Chemistry on her own for her discovery of the elements radium and polonium, which was named after her home country, Poland.
2. Her Early Researches Were Done With Her Husband In a Shed
The Nobel Prize Organization detailed that her early researchers were executed with her husband in a simple shed under difficult conditions.
While her research required much laboratory efforts, it was difficult to arrange that due to their poor circumstances.
German chemist Wilhelm Ostwald even described the shed as "a cross between a stable and a potato shed," Mental Floss says.
3. Madame Curie Was The First Woman To Teach At The Sorbonne
When Pierre died in 1906 due to a tragic accident, Marie Curie was offered a widow's pension for her husband's work at the Sorbonne.
However, instead of accepting it, the scientist took over her husband's position and became the first woman to teach at the institution.
The Smithsonian Magazine writes that she attended her first lecture at the Sorbonne in November that same year, without a single outward sign of mourning.
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4. The Military Was Important To Her
Madame Curie's desire to help her adoptive country Poland extended to how much she supported its military force during the first World War.
During her life, she developed 18 portable X-ray stations that could treat Polish soldiers on the frontlines, and established more than 200 permanent X-ray sites at the height of the war.
When she won her Nobel Prize medals, she also offered to donate those to the war effort to be melted down, but donated her prize money for war bonds instead when the officials refused them.
5. Marie Curie's Notebooks Remain Radioactive Until Today
During the early days of radiation research and discovery, Marie Curie simply did not have any idea about the effects it might have on her body, according to Mental Floss.
She was so close to huge amounts of radiation all the time, and even carried bottles of polonium and radium with her in her pocket all the time with her notebooks.
With this, it is no surprise that Marie Curie's life ended due to the complications from getting too close to strong radiation for a long time.
Curie died of aplastic anemia caused by prolonged radiation exposure in 1934 at 66 years old, and her notebooks will remain radioactive for at least another 1,500 years.
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