Marie Curie became the first person to win Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields.
Curie received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel for research into radioactivity. In 1911, she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering polonium and radium, isolating radium, and studying its compounds.
Her two awards were in separate scientific categories, making her the first individual to achieve that distinction. She remains the only person to win Nobel Prizes in both Physics and Chemistry.
Curie is often confused with Linus Pauling, who also won two Nobel Prizes, but his awards were in Chemistry and Peace. Her daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, later won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, creating a rare mother-daughter Nobel legacy.