Marie history

She came first in the licence of physical sciences in 1893.

She began to work in Lippmann’s research laboratory and in 1894 was placed second in the licence of mathematical sciences.

Following Henri Becquerel’s discovery (1896) of a new phenomenon (which she later called “radioactivity”), Marie Curie, looking for a subject for a thesis, decided to find out if the property discovered in uranium was to be found in other matter.

In July 1898, the Curies announced the discovery of a new chemical element, polonium.

In December 1904 she was appointed chief assistant in the laboratory directed by Pierre Curie.

On May 13, 1906, she was appointed to the professorship that had been left vacant on her husband’s death; she was the first woman to teach in the Sorbonne.

Marie Curie, now at the highest point of her fame and, from 1922, a member of the Academy of Medicine, devoted her researches to the study of the chemistry of radioactive substances and the medical applications of these substances.

Marie Curie, together with Irène Joliot-Curie, wrote the entry on radium for the 13th edition (1926) of the Encyclopædia Britannica.

In addition, she had the satisfaction of seeing the development of the Curie Foundation in Paris and the inauguration in 1932 in Warsaw of the Radium Institute, of which her sister Bronisława became director.