Pierre Curie
Awards & Honours
4
Awards Won
7
Honours
2
Rankings
2
Covers
2
Records
Pierre Curie's achievements are historic. He and Marie became the first married couple to win a Nobel Prize. His discovery of the piezoelectric effect revolutionized materials science and led to modern ultrasound. Curie's law and the Curie temperature are taught in every physics curriculum. The element curium (Cm) bears his and Marie's name. The Curie Institute in Paris, a world-leading cancer research center, continues his mission of using science for humanity. His refusal to patent radium set a standard for open scientific sharing that endures today.
Awards
Honours & Distinctions
Nobel Prize in Physics
Awarded jointly with Marie Curie and Henri Becquerel for radiation research.
Element Curium (Cm)
Synthetic element with atomic number 96 named after Pierre and Marie Curie.
Order of the Polar Star
Knighted for contributions to science.
Legion of Honour
Appointed Chevalier (Knight) for scientific achievements.
Curie (unit)
Unit of radioactivity originally named after Pierre Curie (now 3.7×10^10 decays per second).
Curie Institute (Paris)
Medical and research centre named after Pierre and Marie Curie.
Pierre Curie University (UPMC)
Major scientific university, now part of Sorbonne University.
Rankings & Lists
The Most Influential People of the 20th Century
10 Greatest Physicists of All Time
Magazine Covers
The Illustrated London News
1903-06-27
Pierre and Marie Curie: Nobel Prize Nominees
TIME Magazine
1929-03-04
Marie Curie: The Radium Woman
Records & Feats
First married couple to win a Nobel Prize
Pierre and Marie Curie shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics, the first married pair to win a Nobel.
Coined the term 'radioactivity'
Marie and Pierre Curie introduced the term 'radioactivity' to describe the spontaneous emission of radiation.