Marie Curie's Early Life

Marie Curie was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw Poland. Her parents were both teachers and they set high expectations for there five children, Zosia, Bronia, Jozef, Helena and Marie. The Sklodowski family was very intellengent but struggled with money. At the time, Poland was occupies by Russia and Germany and most of the higher payer jobs were taken by them. To help meet living expenses, Marie's family took in student boarders. The household was crowded, with too many people in one apartment. Those crowded living circumstances caused the spread of tuberculosis, a major infectious disease in the late nineteenth century. Marie's mother got the disease, and after several expensive rest cures in the south of France, she died in 1878 when Marie was only nine years old. After her mothers death came death of sister. She was destraut adn felt very depressed during this time. Her fantasy was to go to Paris and Study Medicine, but she had to work for that dream. To prepare for University she attended the “Flying school” which was a secret school for women. At the time it was illegal for women to go to school in Poland. Soon she was accepted as one of the few girls at Sorbonne University and chose to study physics . To pay for Sorbonne she got a job as a governess.