How old was Marie Curie when she died?

Marie Curie was 66 years old when she died. Born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw on November 7, 1867, she died on July 4, 1934, at the Sancellemoz sanatorium in Passy, France.

Her death was attributed to aplastic anemia, a serious failure of the bone marrow to produce blood cells. Doctors and later historians have generally linked the illness to her long-term exposure to ionizing radiation, although the precise contribution of different exposures remains difficult to measure. During her career, radiation hazards were poorly understood and protective practices were rudimentary.

Curie handled radioactive materials with little shielding and was known to keep samples near her work. During the First World War, she also operated and supervised mobile X-ray units for battlefield medical services, exposing herself to additional radiation from early equipment.

Her age is sometimes confused with the dates of her two Nobel Prizes. She won the Physics Nobel in 1903 and the Chemistry Nobel in 1911, making her 35 and 43 at those milestones. She was therefore not yet 50 when she received her second Nobel, but lived another 23 years afterward.