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The discovery of the elements radium and polonium
Working in a shed in Paris, the Curies processed tons of pitchblende ore to isolate radium and polonium. After Pierre's death in 1906, Marie isolated pure radium metal in 1910. During the First World War she organized mobile X-ray units. She died in 1934 of aplastic anaemia, probably caused by radiation exposure.
Second Nobel Prize for the Polish-French scientist; she named polonium after her homeland, Poland.