Studies

= Marie's Studies at Sorbonne = Marie immersed herself in her studies. She was top of her classes and earned a degree in physics and masters in math. During her time at Sorbonne she met and married Pierre Curie. They began researching uranium rays.

She discovered that the only thing to affect the intensity of the rays was the amount of uranium. This was very unusual, normally the form mattered. She then coined the term "radioactivity." She discovered that pitchblende, which has many chemicals in it, gave off more rays than then the uranium in it could account for. She figured there had to be another highly radioactive element. They began the long task of isolating the elements. Marie and Pierre wrote a paper announcing their discovery of a new element named "polonium" after Marie's home country of Poland in July of 1898. In December of 1898, they announced another new element, "radium." Marie succeeded in isolating radium but never polonium, which had too short a lifespan. In 1903 Marie earned her doctorate degree in physics. She became the first woman in France to do so. Pierre was killed in a tragic horse-drawn carriage incident. Marie was appointed to replace him as a professor. She was the first woman professor at Sorbonne.