Marie Curie was a Polish and French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was born in Poland in 1867 and died in France in 1934 from aplastic anemia caused by exposure to radiation in her scientific work. Curie received multiple honors for her discoveries of the elements radium and polonium, including two Nobel Prizes - one in Physics in 1903 and one in Chemistry in 1911. She used her research to develop medical treatments including X-rays and founded centers for medical research.