Marie Curie, perhaps better known as Madame Curie, would go on to be the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize when she received her Nobel Prize in Physics. When she was given her Nobel Prize in Chemistry, she became the first person to ever win two Nobel Prizes!

Young Maria was very proud to be a Polish girl. There was just one problem: Poland didn't exist. In the late 1800's Warsaw, Poland was under the rule of the Russian Czar. Being Polish during this time was anything but easy. Polish children were given inferior grades in school. The Polish people were not allowed to speak in Polish. Women were not allowed to attend universities. Yet, it was during this time that Maria Sklodowska not only completed high school at the age of fifteen, but with highest honors and a gold medal. She even took a job secretly teaching a farmer's children the Polish language! Madame Curie's full name was Marie Salomea Skłodowska Curie.