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Primary sourcePhotographc. 1911

Portrait of Marie Curie, Nobel Prize in Chemistry

c. 1911

An official portrait photograph of Marie Curie from around the time she won her second Nobel Prize, in Chemistry.

Official Nobel portrait marking her unprecedented second Nobel Prize.

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Black and white portrait photograph of a woman with light, wavy hair pulled back, wearing a dark blouse with gathered shoulders and a thin necklace. She rests her cheek on one hand and gazes toward the viewer against a soft gray backdrop.
Unknown photographer, portrait of Marie Curie, c. 1911. Official Nobel Prize photograph.

About this source

What it is

This is a black-and-white portrait photograph of Marie Curie, cropped from an official Nobel Prize photo. Its photographer is unknown.

Why it matters

The portrait dates from the period of her 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which made her the first person ever to win the Nobel Prize twice, having already won the Physics prize in 1903.

Look closer

  • What does her pose and expression suggest about how she wanted to be seen?
  • Why might an official prize photograph be carefully staged rather than candid?
  • What does this image not tell you about her actual scientific work?

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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