Biography: Marie Curie

Marie curie was born on November 7th 1867, in Warsaw, once the capitol of Poland. Her close friends and family had a nickname for her, Manya. Before Marie turned eleven, her mother had died of Tuberculosis, and her oldest sister had died of Typhus. Despite her grief and short comings, Marie graduated from high school at the early age of fifteen with the highest honors. Marie started to feel depressed, so her father sent her to live with her cousins in the country side. A short time later, Marie moved back to Warsaw to continue her education. In those days, women were not allowed to study at the university. So Maria and her older sister Bronya joined other students at an illegal university. The classes were at night to avoid suspicion by the local police. Marie and Bronya decided to work together, because in order to get a real education they would have to go to a professional university. So Marie would work to help pay for Bronya’s education. Then after she finished school, Bronya would help pay for Marie’s education. Bronya went off to school in Paris, and Marie moved to a village away from Warsaw, and was hired by the owner of a beet-sugar factory to teach his children. She stayed there for three years. Marie moved back to Warsaw in 1889. By this time her father was making good money. He was head of a reform school and was able to send Bronya money each month. Marie continued to work as a tutor. On Sundays, and at night, she went to the museum to study chemistry in an illegal lab for training Polish scientists. When Marie was around 24, she decided that she had saved enough money to go to school in Paris. Marie had little money and food, and she was behind all of the other students. That didn’t stop her; she completed all of her studies and graduated with Master’s degrees in physics and math in only three years. She was so good in physics that she earned a scholarship, and the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry said that they would pay her