[CENTER][CENTER][B][FONT=Times New Roman]Marie Curie[/FONT][/B][/CENTER]
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[B][FONT=Times New Roman]Marie Curie (born Maria Skłodowska, also known as Marie Curie-Skłodowska; [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_7"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]November 7[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman], [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1867"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]1867[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman] – [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_4"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]July 4[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman], [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]1934[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman]) was a [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physicist"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]physicist[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman] and [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemist"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]chemist[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman] of [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]Polish[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman] upbringing and, subsequently, [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]French[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman] citizenship. She was a pioneer in the field of [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactivity"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]radioactivity[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman], the first twice-honored [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_laureate"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]Nobel laureate[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman] (to this day, the only one to win the award in two different sciences) and the first female professor at the [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Paris"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]University of Paris[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman].[/FONT][/B]
[B][FONT=Times New Roman]She was born in [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]Warsaw[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman], [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_Poland"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]Congress Poland[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman], [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]Russian Empire[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman], and lived there until she was 24. In 1891 she followed her elder sister to study in [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]Paris[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman], where she obtained her higher degrees and conducted her scientific work. She founded the [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curie_Institute"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]Curie Institutes[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman] in Paris and Warsaw. She was the wife of fellow-Nobel-laureate [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Curie"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]Pierre Curie[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman] and the mother of a third Nobel laureate, [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ir%C3%A8ne_Joliot-Curie"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]Irène Joliot-Curie[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman].[/FONT][/B]
[B][FONT=Times New Roman]While an actively loyal French citizen, she never lost her sense of Polish identity. Madame Curie named the first new [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_element"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]chemical element[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman] that she discovered (1898) "[/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonium"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]polonium[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman]" for her native country,[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie#cite_note-0#cite_note-0"][COLOR=windowtext][1][/COLOR][/URL] and in 1932 she founded a Radium Institute (now the [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curie_Institute_%28Warsaw%29"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman]) in her home town, [/FONT][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw"][COLOR=windowtext][FONT=Times New Roman]Warsaw[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman], headed by her physician-sister Bronisława, who had likewise studied in Paris.[/FONT][/B][B][/B][/LEFT]