Marie Curie: a life in Paris in nine dates

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated 17 October 2026 · About the library

From Warsaw to the Sorbonne, two Nobel Prizes and the Panthéon: Marie Curie's life as a French timeline, with the passé simple and passé composé side by side.

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In short

Marie Skłodowska Curie (1867–1934) left Poland for Paris in 1891, studied at the Sorbonne, discovered polonium and radium with Pierre Curie, and won two Nobel Prizes (physics 1903, chemistry 1911). She was the first woman buried in the Panthéon for her own merits.

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Marie Curie depicted at a distance working in an early twentieth-century Paris laboratory, dark high-necked long dress and pinned-up hair, simple period glassware on a wooden bench, unlabelled bottles, no glowing radiation or modern equipment. — Marie Curie’s Paris laboratory evokes découvrir and a life in science. Illustration: Atelier

1867
Naissance à Varsovie.Born in Warsaw.
1891
Elle part étudier à la Sorbonne, à Paris.She leaves to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.
1895
Elle épouse Pierre Curie.She marries Pierre Curie.
1898
Ils découvrent le polonium et le radium.They discover polonium and radium.
1903
Prix Nobel de physique, partagé avec Pierre et Henri Becquerel.Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with Pierre and Henri Becquerel.
1906
Pierre meurt ; Marie reprend sa chaire à la Sorbonne.Pierre dies; Marie takes over his chair at the Sorbonne.
1911
Prix Nobel de chimie.Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
1914–1918
Elle crée des unités de radiologie mobiles, les « petites Curies ».She creates mobile X-ray units, the "little Curies".
1995
Ses cendres sont transférées au Panthéon.Her ashes are moved to the Panthéon.

Key words

Vocabulary

French	English
la chaire	professorship
découvrir	to discover
le prix Nobel	Nobel Prize
la radiologie	radiology
les cendres	ashes
le Panthéon	mausoleum of great figures

Biographies in French often use the présent de narration (historic present), as in this timeline: Elle part étudier à Paris. Books and encyclopedias may use the passé simple instead: elle partit, elle découvrit, ils reçurent. You need to recognise the passé simple for reading, but you rarely need to produce it.

Passé simple to recognise

Passé simple	Passé composé	English
elle partit	elle est partie	she left
ils découvrirent	ils ont découvert	they discovered
elle reçut	elle a reçu	she received
il mourut	il est mort	he died

Key words

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