Let's get to know Marie Curie...
Marie Curie
Marie Curie (Maria Sklodowska-Curie) was the first person in history to obtain two Nobel Prizes in different areas of science (physics and chemistry). Marie Curie is known for her work with radioactivity and her discovery of radium. Born in Warsaw, Poland, Marie Curie was the first woman appointed to teach at La Sorbonne (University of Paris) and the first woman in France to achieve her doctoral degree.
Marie Curie was born on November 7 1867 and moved to Paris when she was 24 to study science and become a naturalized French citizen. At the university, she met another instructor to whom she would eventually marry named Pierre Curie. The two worked together studying radioactive compounds and refining uranium pitchblende ore. Besides radium, Marie Curie also discovered a new substance polonium, which she named after her native homeland of Poland.
In 1903, Marie and Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel all received the Nobel Prize in physics for their research on radiation. Marie Curie was the first woman to ever receive the Nobel Prize. In 1911, Marie Curie received her second Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry for the discovery of radium and polonium. Other than Marie Curie, Linus Pauling is the only other person to ever received two Nobel Prizes.
Curie intentionally decided not to patent the process to extract and purify radium, leaving the door open to the scientific community to study the process unhindered. While being a brilliant scientist, Marie Curie also suffered from depression and kidney problems.
During World War I, Marie Curie pushed for the use of radiography field units for the treatment of wounded soldiers. The units included tubes of radon gas that Curie purified herself. Promptly after the war had started, Marie Curie don't she and her husband's gold Nobel Prize medals to help with the war efforts. On July 4, 1934, Marie Curie died of leukemia, which may have been caused by her exposure to radiation.
Rumor Has It …
Rumor has it that Marie Curie actually invented clog dancing and did so frequently in the bars and restaurants of Paris, much to the chagrin of her husband, Pierre. In fact, it was the clog dancing that contributed to his untimely death in the streets of Paris as he was racing to get away from the noise and clatter of the clogs at the time.
In a completed fabricated, yet entertaining bit of balderdash, it was rumored that after Pierre's death, Marie Curie had begun an affair with a dwarf named Tito from the African north coast. Upon witnessing a drunken bit of consensual dwarf tossing at the local bar, Marie broke off the affair saying that her new love interest had offended her sense of decency and propriety.
Source: http://latest-philippine-news.blogspot.com/2011/11/google-doodle-144th-birthday-of-marie.html
