Marie Curie became a professor at the University of Paris in 1906.
The appointment followed the death of her husband, Pierre Curie, who was killed in a street accident in Paris on April 19, 1906. The university retained his physics chair and offered it to Marie. She accepted, becoming the first woman to serve as a professor at the University of Paris.
Her appointment was both a personal and institutional milestone. Marie used the position to continue her research and to press for a properly equipped laboratory. Her work eventually became closely associated with the Radium Institute in Paris, which later developed into the Curie Institute.
The date can be confused with other landmarks in her career. She earned her doctorate from the University of Paris in 1903, shared the Nobel Prize in Physics that same year, and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. The 1906 date specifically marks her professorship.