Bronisława Dłuska
Bronisława Dłuska
8 min read
Polish physician (1865-1939), elder sister of Marie Curie, she funded her sister's studies in Paris. A pioneer of women's medicine in Poland, she ran a clinic in Zakopane and campaigned for women's emancipation.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born on 7 October 1865 in Warsaw, into a Polish intellectual family living under Russian rule
- Earned her medical degree in Paris in 1894, among the first Polish women to become physicians
- Welcomed her sister Maria (the future Marie Curie) to Paris and funded her studies at the Sorbonne in the 1890s
- Founded and directed a clinic in Zakopane dedicated to tuberculosis patients
- Died on 17 April 1939 in Warsaw
Works & Achievements
The defining work of her life, this clinic in the Tatra Mountains welcomed thousands of tuberculosis patients and became a landmark in Polish medicine for treating the disease, combining rigorous care with deep social commitment.
Her medical doctorate, earned in Paris at great mutual sacrifice with her sister, made her one of the first Polish women to become a doctor, opening the way for an entire generation.
Active participation in this clandestine women's educational network in Warsaw, which allowed dozens of young Polish women to access knowledge despite the restrictions imposed by the Russian occupiers.
By honoring the pact she had made with her sister, Bronisława funded Maria's move to Paris — a decisive act without which the future Marie Curie might never have been able to pursue the studies that would lead her to the Nobel Prize.
Throughout her career, Bronisława actively championed women's access to medical education and healthcare professions in Poland, participating in various feminist associations and speaking out publicly on the issue.
Anecdotes
Bronisława and her younger sister Maria made a secret pact: the elder would leave first to study medicine in Paris, while Maria worked as a governess in Poland and sent part of her meager wages. In return, Bronisława would then fund her sister's Parisian studies. This pact of solidarity between two determined women, in a Russian-dominated Poland that barred them from universities, would go on to change the course of scientific history.
When Maria Skłodowska arrived in Paris in 1891, she found refuge with Bronisława and her husband Kazimierz Dłuski, a physician like herself. The couple welcomed her warmly into their Parisian apartment. It was from this family home that the future Marie Curie would begin her studies at the Sorbonne, before moving on her own to a garret in the Latin Quarter to focus entirely on her work.
Settled in Zakopane, a major mountain resort in the Tatras, Bronisława and her husband established a clinic specializing in the treatment of tuberculosis. At a time when this disease was ravaging Europe and mountain air was one of the few remedies available, their institution welcomed thousands of patients. Bronisława developed a pioneering approach there, combining rigorous medical care with a social commitment to the most disadvantaged patients.
In her youth in Warsaw, Bronisława had taken part in the Flying University (Latający Uniwersytet), a clandestine network of home-based lessons designed to circumvent the ban on women accessing higher education in Russian-controlled Poland. This experience deeply shaped her convictions: throughout her life, she worked to ensure that women could freely pursue intellectual and medical careers.
After the tragic death of Pierre Curie in 1906, Bronisława regularly invited Marie to come and rest in Zakopane, in the Tatra Mountains that both sisters had loved since childhood. The two sisters kept up a devoted correspondence until Marie's death in 1934; Bronisława, then sixty-nine years old, outlived her by five years — a living witness to an entire era.
Primary Sources
My elder sister Bronya had already left Warsaw to study medicine in Paris. I worked as a governess to send her a portion of my salary each month, in accordance with our agreement.
It was with Bronya and Casimir Dłuski that Maria spent her first weeks in Paris. Her sister, a doctor, cheerful and courageous, was both a role model and a constant source of support in this unfamiliar city.
My dear Bronya, I will send you this month what I have managed to save. It is less than expected, but hold on — your degree will come soon, and then it will be my turn to leave for Paris.
Dłuska (née Skłodowska), Bronisława — Doctoral thesis in medicine defended and passed. Was among the first foreign women to receive a medical degree from the Paris Faculty.
Key Places
Bronisława Skłodowska's birthplace, where she grew up in a family of teachers and secretly attended the Flying University before leaving to study medicine in Paris.
It was in Paris that Bronisława earned her medical doctorate in the early 1890s, becoming one of the first Polish women to receive a medical degree in France, and where she later took in her sister Maria.
A mountain resort town where Bronisława and her husband Kazimierz founded and ran an anti-tuberculosis clinic that became a leading medical institution in Poland, set amid pine forests and snow-capped peaks.
A major city in Galicia under Austro-Hungarian rule, culturally more liberal than Russian-controlled Poland, where Bronisława practised medicine and where the Polish medical and intellectual community was especially active.
