Curie, Maria Sklodowska (Madame Curie) (1867-19 34), and the Little Curies (Medical Service)

Contribution of Madame Curie to the care of France’s war-wounded during World War I. Best known for her early-twentieth-century discovery of radium and its radioactive properties, Madame Maria Curie used her knowledge to help the French in World War I with the invention of portable X-ray machines, or Little Curies.

Born Manya Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland, Curie broke boundaries in both science and gender when in 1903 she became the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize. Although the prize was given to her in conjunction with her husband, Pierre Curie, and A. Henri Becquerel, Madame Curie was not one to ride the coattails of others.

A dedicated and creative chemist, she won her own Nobel Prize in 1911 for the discovery of radium. Curie’s second award made her the first person, man or woman, to win two Nobel Prizes. Coincidentally, it was her work leading up to the discovery of radium and its practical uses, rather than her many honors, that had the biggest impact on the people of France and the history of World War I.

During the course of her research on radium and radiation in France, Curie became familiar with the work of the German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen. In 1895, Roentgen discovered a new form of radiation that created transparent images on photographic paper, or X-rays. Curie believed that X-rays held numerous possibilities for modern medicine, but more specifically, she saw their value in terms of wartime medicine.


Curie felt that X-ray technology could aid military doctors in locating bullets and shrapnel hidden in the bodies of wounded soldiers. Yet because of the relative infancy of X-ray technology in 1914, most of the available X-ray machines were still located in research laboratories rather than hospitals. Curie used her influence and power of persuasion with the scientific community to arrange for all of the available X-ray machines in French laboratories to be moved to various hospitals. By the end of the war, she had helped set up 200 permanent X-ray stations throughout France. Curie was still concerned with the well-being of the soldiers being treated on the front lines. She knew that it was not always possible to transport wounded men to a hospital before operating, so she sought to provide the field surgeons with a more feasible alternative.

In response to the particular nature of wartime medicine, Curie developed the first transportable X-ray machine. The Petite Curies (Little Curies) were ordinary cars that had been outfitted with X-ray equipment and a generator. The car’s engine was used to power the generator, which in turn powered the X-ray machine. In fact, the cars and the technology behind them were so unique that at first the French army refused to take Curie seriously. It was not until military doctors on the front lines realized the lifesaving potential of Curie’s invention that military leaders agreed to use the device.

Curie through her elite connections raised enough money to purchase and equip a small fleet of twenty cars. Because of the lack of trained radiographers, Curie and her teenage daughter, Irene, accompanied the trucks to the front lines. She and Irene ran machines themselves until they were able to properly train members of the military medical corps to take over the controls. By 1916, Curie was training women to work as radiological assistants to further aid doctors in the treatment of the wounded. It is impossible to tell exactly how many lives were saved by Madame Curie’s efforts, but it is safe to assume that thousands of soldiers benefited from X-rays and the Little Curies.

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