Mme. Curie

Mme. Marie Curie, nee Sklodowska, left Poland to pursue a college education in France at a time women were not allowed university education in Russian Empire borders. (At the time, parts of Poland were under Austrian control as well.) Currie also felt it beneficial to leave because she was involved in student organization political activity criticizing the Austria-Hungary Empire. She met her husband Pierre, as she was studying at the Sorbonne. She received her Doctorate from the Sorbonne in 1903.

According to the Nobel Prize Organization: She was a member of the Conseil du Physique Solvay from 1911 until her death and since 1922 she had been a member of the Committee of Intellectual Co-operation of the League of Nations.” She was also the first woman to earn a teaching position at the Sorbonne. She died of Leukemia from years of work with irradiated materials and from countless hours of direct exposure to Radium. Her notebooks and office still contain high levels of radiation to this day. She was awarded the Nobel Prize twice: once with her husband Pierre for the discovery of Polonium and Radium, and once on her own for her work in Chemistry.