Marie Gallery

Marie Curie

Born in Poland in 1867, after receiving her secondary education she worked as a governess for eight years. Marie moved to Paris and read Physics at the Sorbonne, where she received a scholarhip which allowed her to move back to Poland to take a second degree in Mathematics. She married Pierre Curie in 1895 and their research into radioactivity resulted in a joint Nobel prize. (1903) Maire succeeded Pierre in the position of Professor of Physics at the Sorbonne after his death, and through her research she isolated pure radium. In 1911 she became the first person to be awarded the Nobel Prize on two occasions

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Mrs Kennedy and her deb daughters

Mrs Joseph Kennedy, wife of H.E. the United States Ambassador, in a photograph to mark the presentation of two of her daughters at the first court at Buckingham Palace in May 1938. On the left is Rosemary Kennedy (1918 - 2005), in the middle Rose Kennedy and on the right, Kathleen Kick Kennedy. Kathleen met Billy Cavendish, heir to the Devonshire dukedom during the Season and married him becoming Marchioness of Hartington. He was killed during World War II and Kathleen herself was killed in a plane crash in 1948. Rosemary, or Rosie, was deemed mentally retarded and was subjected to a frontal lobotomy at the age of 23. She spent much of her life in and out of asylums. Date: 1938

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans

Prince George of Wales and the Edinburgh family

Prince George of Wales (1865-1936), later King George V (pictured centre) with his cousins, the children of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg. Seated is Princess Marie of Edinburgh, later Queen Marie of Romania, behind her Princess Victoria Melita ('Ducky') of Edinburgh, later Grand Duchess of Hesse and then Grand Princess Cyril of Russia, Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh is stood by Marie ('Baby Bea'), and to George's left shoulder is Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh, later of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Seated to the right is Prince Alfred, the eldest and only son, who was to be the next Duke of Saxe-Coburg before his premature death in 1899. George hoped to marry Marie when she reached the right age, but the Russian Duchess of Edinburgh disapproved of a match between first cousins and his offer was refused

© Charlotte Zeepvat/ILN/Mary Evans Picture Library