Radioactive

This mixed media collage celebrates the life and legacy of Marie Sklodowska Curie, a pioneering physicist and chemist whose research on radioactivity changed the world. The first woman to win a Nobel Prize—and the first person to win two, in both Physics and Chemistry—Curie isolated the elements radium and polonium, established the theory of radioactivity, and laid the foundation for radiation therapy used in modern cancer treatment. 

During World War I, she applied her scientific expertise to create mobile radiology units—known as “Petites Curies”—which brought over a million life-saving X-rays to soldiers on the front lines. As the first woman to earn a doctorate and hold a professorship at the University of Paris, she broke barriers in a male-dominated field and inspired generations of women in science. 

Admired by Albert Einstein and scientists worldwide, Curie’s discoveries continue to drive medical innovation, from diagnostic imaging to oncology. She died in 1934 from aplastic anemia caused by radiation exposure, a testament to the profound risks she took in the name of discovery.