Marie Curie was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics. She shared the prize with her husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel for their pioneering research into radioactivity and radiation phenomena.
Becquerel had discovered spontaneous radiation from uranium, while Marie and Pierre Curie investigated the phenomenon more deeply. Marie’s work included studying radioactive substances and identifying the elements polonium and radium. She also coined the term “radioactivity.”
The 1903 award is sometimes confused with Curie’s second Nobel Prize. In 1911, she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry independently for discovering polonium and radium, isolating radium and studying its properties. This made her the first person to win two Nobel Prizes and the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields.
Curie was also the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize. Her 1903 Physics award therefore recognizes both a major scientific breakthrough and a landmark in the history of women in science.