The Warsaw Radium Institute opened in 1932. Its formal inauguration took place on 29 May 1932, with Marie Skłodowska-Curie present alongside Polish political and scientific leaders.
The institute grew from a Polish campaign to establish a cancer-treatment and research centre modeled partly on the Radium Institute in Paris. Curie's sister, physician Bronisława Dłuska, was a major organizer, while public donations and international support helped fund the building and its radium supply.
Curie's 1929 visit to the United States was important because President Herbert Hoover presented her with a donation for radium intended for Warsaw. The institute began receiving patients in January 1932, before the ceremonial opening. That distinction can cause confusion: the clinical work started earlier, but the institute's official inauguration belongs to 1932.