Marie Curie

Born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw on November 7, 1867, she later moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne, where she built an extraordinary scientific career. Working with Pierre Curie, she investigated radioactive substances and helped open an entirely new field of research.

She shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel, then won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on radium and polonium. She also became the first woman professor at the University of Paris, a landmark achievement at a time when women faced major barriers in higher education and science.

During World War I, she helped develop mobile X-ray units that brought medical imaging closer to wounded soldiers. She died in France on July 4, 1934, and remains one of the most admired figures in the history of science.