Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Google paid tribute to Noble Prize winning scientist Marie Curie on her 144th birth anniversary today, Monday, with a doodle of her sitting in her laboratory on the search engine’s homepage.
Known for her pioneering work on radioactivity, Marie Curie was the first person to be honoured with two Nobel Prizes in both Physics and Chemistry. She was born in Warsaw, Poland on 7 November 1867 and lived there till the age of 24, after which she moved to Paris to pursue further studies. She met her husband Pierre Curie at the University of Paris, and together they made a foray into scientific research. They are credited with discovering two new elements, polonium and radium.
In 1903, the couple shared Nobel Prize for physics with Henri Becquerel, the discoverer of radioactivity, for their researches on the radiation phenomena discoveries.
She received a second Nobel Prize in 1911, this time in Chemistry, in recognition of her work on radioactivity.
She died on 4 July 1934 from aplastic anaemia, a condition caused by her exposure to radiation as during her entire tenure of research, she worked out of a shed with no proper safety against radioactivity. In 1995, her remains along with that of her husband were transferred to the Panthéon, Paris. She is the first and so far the only woman to be honoured with internment in the Panthéon for her own achievements.
UN declared 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry to celebrate her achievements and contributions.
