Q 01/05

Marie Curie was the youngest of how many children born to teachers Bronisława and Władysław Skłodowski?

A) Three

B) Four

C) Five

D) Seven

Answer · why

C) Five

Her father taught maths and physics and, after Russian authorities banned lab classes, brought the equipment home to teach his children.

Q 02/05

What was Curie's maiden name?

A) Boguska

B) Żorawska

C) Skłodowska

D) Kowalska

Answer · why

C) Skłodowska

She used both surnames throughout her life and never lost her sense of Polish identity.

Q 03/05

Curie was the first person to win two Nobel Prizes. In which two fields?

A) Physics and Medicine

B) Physics and Chemistry

C) Chemistry and Medicine

D) Physics and Peace

Answer · why

B) Physics and Chemistry

She remains the only person to win in two different sciences; Linus Pauling is the only other double laureate in two fields.

Q 04/05

Which two elements did Marie and Pierre Curie discover in 1898?

A) Radon and thorium

B) Uranium and radium

C) Polonium and actinium

D) Polonium and radium

Answer · why

D) Polonium and radium

They also coined the word 'radioactivity' in the course of the work.

Q 05/05

Polonium was named in honour of what?

A) The Greek word for 'many'

B) The Pole Star

C) The Paris polytechnic

D) Curie's native Poland

Answer · why

D) Curie's native Poland

Poland would remain partitioned among Russia, Austria and Prussia for another twenty years.