Marie Curie became the first female winner of a Nobel Prize in 1903, when she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. She received her second Nobel Prize in 1911 in Chemistry, for the discovery of the elements radium and polonium. She died in 1934 at the age of 66 from aplastic anemia, an illness that she is thought to have contracted from the ionizing radiation she was exposed to in her laboratory. The purpose of celebrating Marie Curie's second Nobel Prize is to highlight the importance of increased participation by female researchers in the sciences.
The event was organised by the New York Academy of Science, UNESCO, UN Women, U.S. Department of State and a number of scientific organisations.