Marie Curie

A Polish and naturalized French citizen, Marie Curie had a general education. She had also studied physics and chemistry while conducting the first basic research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Noble prize. She won two Noble prizes as the only woman to win two, in different categories although winning Noble prizes ran in her family because the Curie family had at least 5. She was the first female professor at the University of Paris. She discovered polonium, radium, and uranium. She also founded the Curie Institutes in Paris and Warsaw. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie

She discovered that radiation could cure cancer and skin ulcers but at the same time radiation could cause burns, while simultaneously destroying the metabolism of cells until they died. Her discoveries lead to better ways to treat cancer. Polonium was a new element when it was discovered, as the Curies didn’t know what radiation was. They both had cases of radiation sickness because of their ignorance. Curies’ husband died in 1906 from a horse and cart accident in the street. She eventually died of aplastic anemia, leaving behind two daughters.

https://www.nobelprize.org/educational/nobelprize_info/curie-edu.html