Marie Curie: The Pioneer, the Nobel Laureate, the Discoverer of Radioactivity (Pioneers of Science)

This illustrated biography explores all of Marie Curie’s accomplishments, from her discoveries of radioactivity, polonium, and radium to her Nobel Prize victory and her continuing influence today.

Marie Curie coined the term “radioactivity,” and it is to her and her husband, Pierre Curie, that we owe much of our knowledge of the very fabric of reality. As well as discovering the atomic rather than chemical nature of radioactivity, the Curies isolated two new elements: polonium and radium. Her work not only contributed to our understanding of the structure of the atom, but also laid the foundation for modern medical innovations such as X-rays and radiotherapy. This biography does full justice to the scientific and human aspects of Marie, detailing her tumultuous personal life at a time of social upheaval, and her struggle to gain recognition in an era when women scientists were almost unknown. Marie Curie died in 1934, succumbing to aplastic anemia as a direct result of her pioneering experiments with radium.