Maria Skłodowska-Curie. Use of radiation in medicine

Maria Skłodowska was born in Poland, but in 1891 she went to study Chemistry and Physics at the Sorbonne where she became one of the best students and got acquainted with Pierre Curie who was a lecturer in Physics. In 1895 they got married and worked together until Pierre died in 1906. The Curies studied radioactivity, discovered radium and polonium (the latter was named after the country of Marie's birth) and in 1903 together with Henri Becquerel they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Maria Curie was the first woman in the world to receive the Noble Prize, and the first person in history to be awarded twice, as in 1911 she won the Noble Prize in Chemistry as well. During the World War I Maria taught military doctors to use X-rays to discover shrapnel wounds and assisted in setting up radiography units in the near front zones. She also researched the impact of radioactivity on cancer cells.