Madame Curie was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw Poland. Maria was the fifth and youngest child in her family.
By the time Marie was 16, she had completed secondary school and taken work as a teacher. In 1891, Maria went to Paris and attended Sorbonne University. Marie received her degree in physics from the Sorbonne in 1893. She was not only the first woman to receive such a degree but she graduated number one in her class. In 1894, she received her second degree in mathematics, graduating second in the class.
That same year Marie met Pierre Curie, a French physicist. A year later, they got married. Marie and Pierre worked as a scientific team. In 1898, their achievements resulted in world importance, in particular the discovery of polonium and the discovery of radium a few months later. In 1903, Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for Physics.
Pierre’s sudden death in April 1906 was a difficult blow to Maria, but a turning point in her career: she was devoted to completing the scientific work they had started. In 1911, she won a second Nobel Prize (this time in chemistry). Madam Curie was the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes.