The story
Founded by Marie Curie in 1920.1
The Institut du Radium, a giant laboratory for Marie Skłodowska–Curie, was founded in 1909 by the University of Paris and Institut Pasteur. The Institut du Radium had two sections. The Curie laboratory, directed by Maria Skłodowska-Curie, was dedicated to physics and chemistry research. The Curies' daughter Irène entered the Institute in March 1918 and headed it from 1946 until her death in 1956. The Pasteur laboratory, directed by Claudius Regaud, studied the biological and medical effects of radioactivity. After receiving a joint Nobel Prize with her husband Pierre in 1903, Maria Skłodowska-Curie won a second Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911. During World War One, Skłodowska-Curie used it to teach nurses about radiology.
Maria Skłodowska-Curie and Claudius Regaud established the Foundation Curie in 1920, a public interest institution. The Foundation's purpose was to fund the Institut du Radium's activities and contribute to the development of its therapeutic component. A first hospital opened in 1922. At the clinic, Regaud and his team developed innovative treatments combining surgery and radiation therapy to treat cancer. The Curie Foundation became a model for cancer centres around the world. Curie laboratory continued to play an important role in physics and chemistry research. In 1934, Skłodowska-Curie's daughter Irène and her son-in-law Frédéric Joliot-Curie discovered artificial radioactivity. In 1935, it was recognised with a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Institut du Radium and the Fondation Curie merged in 1970 to become the Institut Curie. The Institut has three missions: research, teaching and treating cancer. The original building of Curie's Laboratory from 1914 now houses the Musée Curie.
From Wikipedia’s article on Curie Institute (Paris), shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5