Maria Sklodowska-Curie
Childhood on Nowolipki
Maria Sklodowska was born at 16 Freta Street, but in 1868 her family moved to Nowolipki. It was here that she spent a significant part of her childhood, before her biography became permanently connected with science, Paris and the Sorbonne.
The family home on Nowolipki
The Sklodowski family lived in the building of the Second Boys’ Gymnasium at 11/15 Nowolipki Street. The family occupied an official apartment in the school building, erected in 1840-1843.
Wladyslaw Sklodowski and the Second Boys’ Gymnasium
Wladyslaw Sklodowski, Maria’s father, taught mathematics and physics at the Second Boys’ Gymnasium at 11/15 Nowolipki Street. He also served as a deputy inspector.
The Sklodowski home was closely connected with the school and her father’s teaching work. Books, scientific aids and everyday contact with a physics teacher created an environment in which Maria encountered science early.
Moves and social context
In 1873 the Sklodowski family left the official apartment at 11/15 Nowolipki. Maria was five or six years old at the time. Later family addresses still connected them with this part of Warsaw, including the area of Nowolipki and Karmelicka streets.
At that time the Nowolipki area had a mixed social character. Alongside the Polish intelligentsia lived a large Jewish community; schools, craft workshops and institutions connected with rapidly changing Warsaw operated there.
Significance in the Nobel laureate’s biography
In 1891, aged about 24, Maria Sklodowska left Warsaw for Paris to study at the Sorbonne. She later developed her scientific career in France. Nowolipki remains one of the important Warsaw addresses of her childhood: a place of family life, her father’s educational background and her first contact with the exact sciences.
Commemoration
The building where the Sklodowski family lived did not survive World War II. A mural at today’s 11 Nowolipki Street, designed by Swanski (Paweł Kozłowski), recalls the scientist’s family and commemorates Marie Curie’s connection with this part of Warsaw.
The mural is marked on the map of Nowolipki.