Marie Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland. Her mother and father were teachers. At age 15, she finished high school. She had the top honors. Then she moved to Paris to study. Her name had been Maria. At the Sorbonne, she began to use Marie.

Marie worked with her husband, Pierre Curie. They were both scientists. They found two new elements. Their names were polonium and radium. Marie named polonium for Poland. That is where she was born. Radium is named for the Latin word for ray.

Radium gives off light. It gives off heat too. Much of their work on it was in a shed. In 1903, Marie won a Nobel Prize in physics. She shared it with Pierre and one more man. Doctors use radioactive compounds to treat tumors.

Marie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. In 1911, she won a second one. It was in chemistry. It was for her work on radium and polonium. No one had won two Nobel Prizes before. Marie was the first.

Words to know

• elements: basic materials
• radium: a glowing element
• physics: study of energy
• Nobel: a famous prize