11/07/1867 AD born

Maria Skłodowska was born the fifth and youngest child of well-known teachers Bronisława, née Boguska, and Władysław Skłodowski. The elder siblings of Maria (nicknamed Mania) were Zofia (born 1862, nicknamed Zosia), Józef (born 1863, nicknamed Józio), Bronisława (born 1865, nicknamed Bronia) and Helena (born 1866, nicknamed Hela).

On both the paternal and maternal sides, the family had lost their property and fortunes through patriotic involvements in Polish national uprisings aimed at restoring Poland's independence (the most recent had been the January Uprising of 1863–65).

This condemned the subsequent generation, including Maria and her elder siblings, to a difficult struggle to get ahead in life.

Władysław Skłodowski taught mathematics and physics, subjects that Maria was to pursue, and was also director of two Warsaw gymnasia (secondary schools) for boys.

After Russian authorities eliminated laboratory instruction from the Polish schools, he brought much of the laboratory equipment home and instructed his children in its use. He was eventually fired by his Russian supervisors for pro-Polish sentiments and forced to take lower-paying posts.

The family also lost money on a bad investment and eventually chose to supplement their income by lodging boys in the house.

Maria's mother Bronisława operated a prestigious Warsaw boarding school for girls; she resigned from the position after Maria was born. She died of tuberculosis in May 1878, when Maria was ten years old. Less than three years earlier, Maria's oldest sibling, Zofia, had died of typhus contracted from a boarder.

Maria's father was an atheist; her mother a devout Catholic. The deaths of her mother and sister caused her to give up Catholicism and become agnostic.

Warsaw

Lattitude: 52.2297° N
Longitude: 21.0122° E
Region: Europe

Modern Day Poland

Events in 1867 MORE