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Marie Curie became one of the most important scientists of the modern age, but her path to success was far from easy. She was born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw in 1867, when Poland was under Russian control. Opportunities for women to study at university were severely limited, so she eventually moved to Paris. There she studied physics and mathematics, often living with very little money. Curie became fascinated by mysterious rays produced by uranium. Working with her husband, Pierre Curie, she investigated tonnes of a heavy mineral called pitchblende. The work was exhausting. In a poorly equipped shed, she stirred large containers of material for hours as she tried to isolate previously unknown substances. The research led to the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium. In 1903, Marie Curie shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel. In 1911, she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry. She became the first person to win Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields. During the First World War, Curie also helped develop mobile X-ray units that allowed doctors to examine wounded soldiers near the battlefield. At the time, scientists did not fully understand the dangers of long-term radiation exposure. Curie's health was eventually damaged by years of working with radioactive materials. Her discoveries transformed scientific understanding and contributed to later developments in medicine and physics.
