Marie and Irène Curie, two brilliant women who pioneered the development of nuclear chemistry, radiotherapy, and radiobiology

Abstract

Objective

To describe the contributions of Marie Sklodowska-Curie and her daughter Irene Curie to radiation science and how these studies in physics, chemistry and medicine led to the need to study radiobiological effects.

Conclusions

The seminal discoveries of Maria Sklodowska-Curie in radiation physics and chemistry provided the basis for later investigations of the effects of ionizing radiation on cells and tissues and the role of radioactivity in mutagenesis and carcinogenesis. Both Maria and Irene contributed to the development of radiotherapy and the use of x-rays and radioisotopes in medical diagnosis. Their legacy is not confined to their own generation but can be traced through grand- and great-grand-students of these pioneering women.

Keywords:

• History
• radiobiology
• pioneering women
• Maria Sklodowska-Curie
• Irene Curie

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no Conflicts of Interest.

Notes

1 Actually, what they discovered is spontaneous, therefore natural, radioactivity of artificially-obtained nuclei [Hurwic 2011, p. 106].

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marek K. Janiak

Dr. Marek K. Janiak is a retired professor of Radiobiology from Warsaw, Poland.

Carmel Mothersill

Dr. Carmel Mothersill is a professor of environmental Radiobiology at McMaster University in Canada.