In which field did Marie Curie win her first Nobel Prize?

Marie Curie won her first Nobel Prize in physics.

She received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel. The award recognized their research into radioactivity, a term Marie Curie helped establish while systematically studying the radiation emitted by uranium compounds. Her measurements showed that the activity depended on the amount of uranium present, pointing to an atomic property rather than an ordinary chemical reaction.

The prize made Curie the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. The original nomination focused on Pierre Curie and Becquerel, but the mathematician Gösta Mittag-Leffler helped ensure that Marie’s contribution was recognized. Marie and Pierre initially postponed their trip to Stockholm because of their research and professional responsibilities.

Curie later won a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, in 1911. That award honored her discovery of polonium and radium, her isolation of radium, and her study of its compounds. Thus, physics was her first Nobel field, while chemistry was her second.