Curie, Marie
. Curie, Marie (1867-1934), Polish-born French chemist who, with her husband Pierre Curie , was an early investigator of radioactivity . Radioactivity is the spontaneous decay of certain elements into other elements and energy. The Curies shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics with French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel for fundamental research on radioactivity. Marie Curie went on to study the chemistry and medical applications of radium. She was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in chemistry in recognition of her work in discovering radium and polonium and in isolating radium Marie Curie's maiden name was Maria Skłodowska, and her nickname while growing up was Manya. She was born in Warsaw at a time when Poland was under Russian domination after the unsuccessful revolt of 1863. Her parents were teachers, but soon after Manya (their fifth child) was born, they lost their teaching posts and had to take in boarders. Their young daughter worked long hours helping with the meals, but ...