Read & Think · Against the Odds

The Scientist They Couldn't Stop

A poor student who studied in secret became the first person ever to win two Nobel Prizes.

Name

Date

Marie Curie around 1903, the year she won her first Nobel Prize — the discovery-filled chapter this piece follows. Portrait: Nobel Foundation via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Imagine being told you cannot go to college, not because of your grades, but because you are a girl. That is the wall a young woman named Maria faced in Warsaw, Poland. She refused to accept it. Years later, the world would know her as Marie Curie, the first person ever to win two Nobel Prizes.

Marie was born in 1867, when Poland was ruled by the Russian Empire and women were locked out of higher education. So she found a hidden way in. She joined a secret school called the Flying University, which quietly taught women in shifting locations to dodge the authorities. It was learning in the shadows, and it was against the rules.

To become a real scientist, Marie had to leave home. In 1891 she moved to Paris to study at the university there, and she was terribly poor. She lived in a freezing attic, sometimes so lost in her books that she forgot to eat and fainted from hunger. Still, she earned degrees in physics and mathematics.

In Paris she met a scientist named Pierre Curie, and they married in 1895. Working side by side in a leaky, drafty shed, Marie discovered that certain rocks gave off invisible rays of energy. She gave this mysterious power a name: radioactivity.

Together the Curies uncovered two brand-new elements, which Marie named polonium, after her homeland, and radium. Finding them meant grinding through tons of rock for tiny specks. In 1903, that work won Marie her first Nobel Prize, in physics.

Then tragedy struck: Pierre died in a street accident in 1906. Marie pushed on. She became the first woman to teach at her Paris university, and in 1911 she won a second Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry. No one had ever won two before.

During World War I, Marie built mobile X-ray trucks, nicknamed 'Little Curies,' to help doctors treat wounded soldiers near the battlefront. The very rays she studied would one day make her sick, but her discoveries changed medicine and science forever.

Source: Facts drawn from the public historical record; photo credited on the page.

The Scientist They Couldn't StopComprehension

Check that you read it

Fill each blank with the right word from the box.

Word bank: Warsaw · Paris · radioactivity · polonium · physics

Marie was born in the city of Warsaw, Poland, when women were locked out of higher education.
In 1891 Marie moved to Paris to study at the university there, even though she was terribly poor.
Marie gave the name radioactivity to the mysterious power of rocks that gave off invisible rays of energy.
Marie named the element polonium after her homeland of Poland.
Marie won her first Nobel Prize, in physics, in 1903.

Choose the best answer

What makes Marie Curie's place in history so remarkable?
- A. She was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, in two different sciences
- B. She was the first woman ever to visit Paris
- C. She invented the very first X-ray machine
- D. She once ruled the country of Poland
Why did Marie join the secret Flying University in Warsaw?
- A. Because women were not allowed into regular universities
- B. Because it was the closest school to her house
- C. Because it cost no money to attend
- D. Because she wanted to learn how to paint
The story says Marie sometimes 'forgot to eat and fainted from hunger.' This best shows that she was —
- A. deeply devoted to her studies
- B. afraid of eating food
- C. extremely rich and comfortable
- D. lazy about her work

The Scientist They Couldn't StopVocabulary

Word cross

Use what you read to fill the puzzle. Every clue is answered somewhere in the article.

1P

A

R

I

S

H

Y

2W

S

3P

O

L

A

N

D

I

R

4C

H

E

M

I

S

T

5R

Y

S

R

A

R

W

D

6N

O

B

E

L

I

U

7P

O

L

O

N

I

U

M

Across

French city where Marie studied in a freezing attic.
Marie's homeland, then ruled by the Russian Empire.
Science of her second Nobel Prize, won in 1911.
Famous prize Marie won not once but twice.
Element Marie named in honor of her home country.

Down

Science of her first Nobel Prize, won in 1903.
Polish city where Marie was born and secretly studied.
Marie's husband and science partner in the drafty shed.
Glowing new element Marie found along with polonium.

The Scientist They Couldn't StopCritical Thinking

Now think

There isn't one right answer here. Explain your thinking — the reasons matter more than the answer.

1 · The piece shows Marie Curie as brave. Find two different moments in her story that show bravery, and explain how each one proves it.

For the teacherA strong answer points to specific evidence — joining the illegal Flying University, moving to Paris alone and poor, or continuing her work after Pierre's death — and explains why each moment counts as brave rather than just naming it.

2 · Marie faced one obstacle after another: being shut out of school, deep poverty, and losing Pierre. Pick one obstacle and explain how the way she responded to it shaped what happened next in her life.

For the teacherA strong answer traces a clear cause-and-effect chain from one specific obstacle to a specific later result, using details from the article instead of a general 'she never gave up.'

3 · Marie could have quit many times but kept going. Think of a goal that matters to you. What is one obstacle in your way, and what could you borrow from how Marie handled hers?

For the teacherA strong answer names a real personal goal and obstacle and draws a specific, thoughtful connection to Marie's persistence, secrecy, or teamwork — going beyond the slogan 'never give up.'