Maria Skłodowska‑Curie

Poland

Physicist and chemist. The first and only woman in the world to receive the Nobel Prize twice. Together with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel, in 1903 she received the Nobel Prize in Physics for her research on the phenomenon of radioactivity. She received a second prize in 1911 in chemistry for discovering the new elements, polonium and radium. Her discoveries have become a breakthrough in the fight against cancer.

© Wellcome Collection