First off, who is Marie Curie? Marie was a chemist and a physicist who lead research in the realm of radioactivity. She was given 2 Nobel Prizes for her work in developing a technique to isolate radioactive isotopes. She also discovered 2 elements that we currently have on our periodic table: Radium and Polonium. (You remember the chart of elements we had to study in school don't you?)
Sad to say because of all the years she was exposed to radiation she died from this exposure in 1934 from aplastic anemia. The full affects of ionizing radiation were not totally known then, unfortunately. Sometimes it's good to be the pioneer in your field and sometimes it can be bad. In Marie Curies case it was bad. Check out her full biography over at Wikipedia if you would like to learn more facts about her. Remarkable woman.
