Life
Marie Curie (or Marya Sklodowska) was born on November 7, 1867 and was the youngest of five children. She had three sisters named Zofia, Bronya, and Helena, and one brother named Jozef. Her mother was the principal of a girls’ school and her father was a physics and mathematics professor. When she was still very young, Marya’s mother fell ill with tuberculosis. Her eldest sister, Zofia, took care of her, and was like a second mother to her. With her mother sick and unable to work, the family had to move to an even smaller apartment and board with ten students. Life wasn’t easy and every morning Marya had to wake up early in order to help around the house.
Later in 1876, when Marya was eight, one of the boarder students fell sick with typhus—a very serious disease. Two of Marie’s sisters, Bronya, and Zofia caught it from the boarder. Luckily Bronya recovered, but Zofia didn’t make it through. To make matters worse not long after Zofia’s death Marie’s mother who was drastically weakened by tuberculosis, also passed away.
At this time, Marya felt like she had lost everything dear to her. She missed the sound of her sister’s voice when she sang her to sleep and her mother’s warmth whenever Marya hugged her. But Marya found a way to forget her pains—every time she opened a book she found herself in another world with all her troubles behind her. She read anything she could find, whether it be poetry, novels, history, in French, Polish, or Russian. Marya would love to read, and soon with the help of all her knowledge she’d become the greatest woman of all times.
Later, when Marie finished her schooling she graduated at the top of her class. Now, she wanted to go to college, but in the country of Poland where she lived women could not go to college. Marie thought this was extremely frustrating knowing full well that she could do as well—or even better—than men who attended college. Marie didn’t give up though. She began to teach children as a job and then at night, Marie would attend classes that were held by Polish professors in secret. With her were many other women who also couldn’t go to college but wanted an education and men who couldn’t afford college.
Then at the age of eighteen, Marie came up with another plan. Her sister Bronya, wanted to go to college too and become a doctor. They decided that Bronya would attend Sorbonne University first with the money Marie had earned. Then when Bronya graduated and became a doctor, she would pay for her sister’s entrance into Sorbonne. While Bronya attended college, Marie worked as a governess for a family with two children. It wasn’t fun, but Marya knew that soon, because of this job, she’d be able to attend college. Six years later, Bronya graduated from medical school and on November 3, 1891, Marie enrolled in to Sorbonne University in France.
The school was very difficult for Marie when she’d first entered it. Everyone spoke French which was difficult to understand, and all the other girls were ahead of her education-wise. Marie lived with Bronya and her husband at first but she thought the atmosphere was too noisy and moved to a small, dinky apartment that was usually cold and dark. She spent every second of her time reading and learning about science, and every coin she had went to her school tuition and books. Persistent until the end, Marie studied and worked day and night. Finally in 1893 her work paid off. She got an advanced degree in physics and mathematics and ranked first in her class.
It was at Sorbonne where Marie met Pierre Curie, a young professor of physics who shared with her the love of science. They soon fell in love and married on July 26, 1895. Marie and Pierre had two daughters Irene and Eve. With Pierre’s help Marie studied more in depth about radiology. They discovered two elements, polonium and radium, and Marie became the first woman ever to receive a Nobel Prize, and the first person in the world to win two of them!
Marie made it through many obstacles in her life—including the death of her husband in 1906. Nothing could stop her from achieving her dreams no matter how much sorrow, pain, or tragedy occurred, the persevering woman pushed forward. Marie Curie worked in her laboratory until the day she died on July 4, 1934. And though, she is now gone from this world, her discoveries will be passed on from generation to generation and we will never forget the compassionate young woman who worked for what she loved most.