Physicist whose body was so radioactive she had to be buried in lead-lined coffin

A female physicist's body was so radioactive that she had to buried in a lead-lined coffin after she passed away.

Weirdly, 2023 has seen a few stories emerge about coffins, including the 'world's first living' one that is, in fact, very good for the environment.

This particular coffin certainly didn't have the environment in mind when it was designed - as it was instead designed to withhold a whole lot of radiation.

Physicist Marie Curie is well known across the globe for her pioneering work on radioactivity - something that saw her earn two Nobel Prizes for her efforts.

Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1867 as the youngest of five children, Curie's contributions to physics and chemistry earned her the title of the 'mother of modern physics'.

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And in 1896, the French physicist Henri Becquerel discovered that uranium salts emitted rays that were very much similar to X-rays in their ability to pass through objects.

It was this discovery that very much kickstarted Curie's career as she and her husband, Pierre Curie, ended up discovering radium and polonium - named after her native country Poland - in 1898, launching the two into scientific history.

Their discovery led to the pair being awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 - with the other half going to Becquerel.

And in 1911, Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for isolating pure radium.

She passed away in July 1934 due to aplastic anemia - supposedly caused by her prolonged exposure to radiation.

Aplastic anemia is a rare blood condition that occurs when bone marrow cannot make enough new blood cells for the body to function properly, according to National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

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She was later laid to rest with her husband in the Pantheon in France.

But when the decision was made to move her body there in 1995, it was discovered that her body had been placed in a lead-lined coffin due to high levels of radiation.

It was previously believed the coffin had been made from wood.

When it was opened up, officials at the French radiation protection agency found it was lined instead with 2.5 millimeters of lead.

And that wasn't the only thing of Curies that has been sealed away.

Her notebooks also suffered to extreme radiation exposure and are contained in lead-lined boxes at the Bibliotheque National in Paris, France.

The notebooks are expected to still be radioactive for another 1,500 years - and any visitors have to wear a protective suit and sign a waiver before seeing the objects.

A risky museum visit if I say so myself.