Four years later, Curie’s mother contracted tuberculosis. Zosia’s death was followed by another tragedy. While Bronya eventually recovered, 12-year-old Zosia did not. Typhus spreads via fleas, lice, and rats, and flourishes in crowded places. In 1874, two of Curie’s sisters, Bronya and Zosia, contracted typhus from a few of the sick renters. The overcrowding led to lack of privacy, but also health problems. © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis/Getty Images Marie Curie in her laboratory, where she spent most of her adult life. Curie slept on a couch in the dining room and would rise early to set the table for breakfast. The flat quickly became overcrowded at one point, they housed 20 students in addition to Curie’s parents and their five children. To make ends meet, they got a new apartment - this time a rental - and Władysław started a boys’ boarding school. Władysław lost his job, which also meant the loss of the family’s apartment and steady income.

Her father encouraged Polish scientists to instill a sense of Polish pride into their students, too, and was later found out by Russian officials. And she wasn’t just a math and science prodigy, she excelled in literature and languages as well. In order to escape the strict oversight of Russian officials, Polish-related subjects would be disguised on the class schedules - Polish history was put down as “Botany” while Polish literature was “German studies.” Little Marie, or Manya, was a star pupil who always finished at the top of her class. Her parents eventually enrolled the children in a secret school managed by a Polish patriot named Madame Jadwiga Sikorska, who secretly integrated lessons on Polish identity into the school’s curriculum. The youngest child of five, Curie was raised in a poor family, her parents’ money and property having been taken away due to their work to restore Poland’s independence.īoth her father, Władysław, and her mother, Bronisława, were proud Polish educators and sought to educate their children in both school subjects and their oppressed Polish heritage. At the time, Poland was under Russian occupation. Wikimedia Commons Marie Curie when she was 16 years old.īorn Maria Salomea Skłodowska, she came into the world on Nov.

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