Marie Curie, a woman born into a run-down family and in a country, Poland, under the iron grip of the Russian Empire... Marie Curie was the youngest one at home and had a weakened mental health after the death of her mother. Marie Curie, a foreigner without means in Paris, the capital of Modernity; a young governess who worked for a pittance in order to be able to pay for her University studies. Marie Curie, a scientist in a world of men she had to fight all her life to achieve the social and scientific recognition that was due to her. But, despite all these difficulties, Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. She was the only woman to win this award in two different fields, and, as if that was not enough, the first woman professor at the famous Sorbonne University. A woman who had to show that she could be a free woman, who would only be accountable to others through her work and her talent. In the following pages, the reader will discover the fascinating vital epic of a woman who broke the molds of her time and positioned herself among the most brilliant minds of her generation. Scientists, popularizers and journalists offer a fascinating collage on the vertiginous advances in science during the turn of the century, the position of women in the 19th century, the birth of the Nobel Prize winners, the "other" Curies and women scientists, or the cultural heritage left by Marie and Pierre Curie.