The term medical physics 

leads to Marie Curie's name,

born on this day in Warsaw, 

her work led to her fame.

Studying radiation 

along with husband Pierre ,

she discovered radium and polonium, 

though the dangers she was unaware.

She did so much in world war one

fitting ambulances with x-ray machines,

she drove them to the front line

carrying out x rays at the scene.

She found radiation could treat cancer

but what Marie failed to realise,

exposure to so much radiation

would finally lead to her demise.

The International Day of Medical Physics is celebrated annually on November 7th, the birthday of Marie Sklodowska Curie, born in Poland in 1867. She went to study physics at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1891, she got married to physicist Pierre Curie in 1895. They worked together investigating radioactivity and discovered a new element polonium, closely followed by another called radium. The Curie's along with scientist Becquerel, who had also been working alongside them were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903. Their research was vital for xrays in surgery. During the first world war Marie Curie helped to equip ambulances with x ray machines which she drove to the front line. All her work with radio-active materials led to her dying of Leukaemia on July 4th 1934.

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