She was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity, the first twice-honored Nobel laureate (and still today the only laureate in two different sciences), and the first female professor at the Sorbonne.

She was born in Warsaw, Poland, to Polish parents and lived there until she was 24. In 1891 she went to Paris, France, to study science. She obtained her higher degrees and conducted nearly all her scientific work there, and became a naturalized French citizen. She founded the Curie Institutes in Paris, France, and in her home town, Warsaw, in resurrected Poland.