Scientist, Technologist, Proto-Feminist, Superstar
With the possible exception of Albert Einstein, Marie Curie was the most famous scientist of her era and is almost certainly the most celebrated female scientist in history. Although known primarily for her discovery of radium, her true gift to science was her realization that radioactivity is an intrinsic atomic property of matter rather than the result of more superficial chemical processes. She was one of the exceedingly rare Nobel laureates to win the prize twice (physics and chemistry).
