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Primary sourcePhotograph

Marie Curie, Portrait Photograph

An undated portrait photograph of Marie Curie standing beside laboratory apparatus.

A portrait photograph of Marie Curie herself, shown in her laboratory setting.

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Black-and-white photograph of a woman with hair pinned up, wearing a long dark dress with a high lace-trimmed collar, standing beside laboratory apparatus in a room with a wooden table, a wall clock, and glass equipment. A blurred figure stands in the background.
Marie Curie. Photograph, undated. Wellcome Collection, London.

About this source

What it is

This is a black-and-white portrait photograph of Marie Curie, shown standing beside laboratory apparatus in a room with a table, a wall clock, and glass equipment. The photograph is undated and held by the Wellcome Collection in London.

Why it matters

Portrait photographs like this one helped shape the public image of Marie Curie as a serious scientist, pictured in the setting of her research rather than in a formal studio alone. It is one of many images used to record her appearance and work for later generations.

Look closer

  • What details in the photograph suggest this is a scientist's workplace rather than a home?
  • Why might a photographer choose to show Marie Curie with laboratory equipment rather than without it?
  • What is missing from this image that would help you understand her actual research?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marie Curie on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Cover of the January 1904 issue of the magazine Le Radium, showing a printed masthead and a photograph captioned Le Laboratoire de la Rue Lhomond. The photo shows two men and a seated woman among laboratory equipment and glassware, with the caption M. & Mme Curie below.Photograph

Primary source

Photograph of Pierre and Marie Curie in their Laboratory, rue Lhomond

c. 1898-1904

Title page of the 1904 second edition of Recherches sur les substances radioactives by Madame Sklodowska Curie, a thesis presented at the Faculté des Sciences de Paris. Published in Paris by Gauthier-Villars. Handwritten number 5 and a note appear in the top right corner.Book

Primary source

Recherches sur les substances radioactives

Marie Curie · 1904

Document

Primary source

Rayons émis par les composés de l'uranium et du thorium

Marie Curie · 12 April 1898

A museum display case showing a wooden mahogany box with its lid open and a round metal radium container inside, beside a separate lidded metal canister with a brass knob, a key on a chain, and a small cluster of tubes on the glass base.Artifact

Primary source

International Radium Standard

Marie Curie · 1911

Black-and-white photograph of a clear glass vessel with a flared conical bowl, a pouring spout on the left rim, and a short stem on a flat circular foot, set against a plain light background.Artifact

Primary source

Glass beaker used for the first radium salt solution

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