Pierre and Marie Curie‐Sklodowska

April 20, 1995. Pierre and Marie Curie's mortal remains leave their modest grave in the Sceaux Churchyard near Paris to be admitted to the Pantheon, devoted to a few of the nation's greatest figures. This ceremony took place in the presence of Mr. François Mitterrand, President of the French Republic, and Mr. Lech Walesa, President of the Polish Republic, Eve Curie, their daughter, Hélène Langevin and Pierre Joliot, their grand‐children, and a considerable audience. This recognition of their merit is of a great symbolic value, not only because they were prominent scientists, but also because Marie Curie is the first woman to be received into the Pantheon for her personal fame. The worldwide celebrity of Pierre and Marie Curie can be justified by both their remarkable scientific contribution and the legend built on their personal lives, which were out of the ordinary. Although their main joint contribution is linked to the discovery of polonium and radium, it is also important to acknowledge some of their other contributions to science and medicine. This review of Pierre and Marie Curie's lives and main accomplishments considers three periods of time: their individual lives before their encounter in 1894, their life together and collaboration between 1894 and 1906, and Marie Curie's life after Pierre Curie's death.