II.

Early Years

Curie was born Maria Skłodowska on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland, and her nickname while growing up was Manya. Poland at the time was under Russian domination after an unsuccessful revolt in 1863. Her parents were teachers and ardent Polish nationalists, but soon after Manya (their fifth child) was born, they lost their teaching posts and had to take in boarders. Their young daughter worked long hours helping with the meals, but she nevertheless won a medal for excellence at the local high school, where the examinations and some classes were held in Russian.

No higher education was available to women in Poland at that time, so Manya took a job as a governess. Part of her earnings helped pay for her older sister’s medical studies in Paris, France. Her sister qualified as a doctor and married a fellow doctor in 1891. Manya went to join them in Paris that year, changing her name to Marie. She entered the Sorbonne (now the Universities of Paris) and studied physics and mathematics, graduating at the top of her class. In 1894 she met French physicist Pierre Curie, and they were married the following year.