Marie Curie

Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a scientist who won Nobel Prizes in both physics (1903) and chemistry (1911).

Early life
Marie Curie was born Maria Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland, on November 7, 1867. The daughter of a secondary school teacher. During her childhood both her mother and a sister died within in a year of each other. She then graduated from school at 15, at the top of her class, but fell ill and spent a year in the countryside recovering.

Curie began her studies in Warsaw and became part of the student activism there, but soon moved to Krakow, then Paris. She continued her studies at the Sorbonne, earning degrees in physics and the mathematical sciences. While studying at the Sorbonne in 1894, she met her eventual husband, Pierre Curie, who was then a professor in the School of Physics.

Illness
At age 15, having just graduated from her high school, she became ill with "fatigue", and was sent to her Uncle's home to recover in the countryside.

It is possible that Marie Curie suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome, but it has also been suggested that the symptoms were depression, possibly as a result of her mother's and sister's deaths, a "nervous breakdown", or exhaustion.

Death
Curie died July 4, 1934 in Savoy, France, following a brief illness. She died from aplastic anemia, which may have been a result of leukemia caused by radiation exposure during her research.