On the ground floor of the former Radium Institute, located at 21 rue Tournefort in Paris, is the Curie Museum, a historical museum dedicated to radiological research. Originally, the building housed two laboratories - a biological laboratory, headed by Claudius Regaud, and a physico-chemical laboratory, led by Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Today, the three-storey 1911 building houses an exhibition on the history of radioactivity and its applications in medicine, as well as on the Curie family, four members of which received as many as five Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry.

Contemporary exhibition

The exhibition covers the key scientific achievements of the Curie family: research into radioactivity discovered by Henri Becquerel (Nobel Prize in Physics to Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre'Curie, 1903), the discovery of polonium and radium and the study of the chemical properties of radioactive elements (Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Skłodowska-Curie 1911), and the discovery of artificial radioactivity (Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Frédéric Joliot-Curie and Irène Joliot-Curie 1935).

One of the museum's most interesting exhibits are the original scientific instruments used before the Second World War, including those used to discover artificial radioactivity in 1934. The museum pays tribute to Marie Skłodowska-Curie - during the tour you can see her study and laboratory.

History of the Museum

1958 Frédéric Joliot-Curie died. At that time, the decision was taken to close the Radium Institute and to use the building space as a memorial chamber. In 1964, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the discovery of artificial radioactivity, the first exhibition with showcases was designed in the building, displaying the scientific instruments used in the inter-war period. Only three years later, the rooms used by Skłodowska-Curie in the pavilion were opened to privileged visitors. In 1981, due to increased interest, the laboratory space was decontaminated. Since then, the exhibition has undergone two renovations. It acquired its current form in 2012.