a 1906 portrait of Madame Curie with Nobel medals

Madame Curie who's pioneering work in radiation and the discovery of Polonium and Radium won her the Nobel prize in Physics and Chemistry. She was the first woman to win the Nobel prize, the first person to win the Nobel prize twice and the only person to win the Nobel prize in two fields. She was also the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris.

In WWI, she saw a need for field radiological centers near the front lines to assist battlefield surgeons, including to obviate amputations when in fact limbs could be saved. After a quick study of radiology, anatomy, and automotive mechanics, she procured X-ray equipment, vehicles, and auxiliary generators, and she developed mobile radiography units, which came to be popularly known as petites Curies ("Little Curies"). She became the director of the Red Cross Radiology Service and set up France's first military radiology center, operational by late 1914.