Pierre Curie

Pierre Curie was born on May 15. He was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity and radioactivity. In 1903 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Curie and Henri Becquerel, "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel."
He was educated by his father, and in his early teens showed a strong aptitude for mathematics and geometry. When he was 16, he earned his math degree. By the age of 18 he had completed the equivalent of a higher degree, but did not proceed immediately to a doctorate due to lack of money. Instead he worked as a laboratory instructor.
In 1880, Pierre and his older brother Jacques (18561941) demonstrated that an electric potential was generated when crystals were compressed, i.e. piezoelectricity.
In 1881, they demonstrated the reverse effect: that crystals could be made to deform when subject to an electric field. Almost all digital electronic circuits now rely on this in the form of crystal oscillators.
When introduced by a friend, Pierre met Mariecurie. He proposed to her but Maria (Marie) refused, even though she loved him, too. She finally agreed to marry him on 26 July 1895.
Furthermore, Pierre studied ferromagnetism, paramagnetism, and diamagnetism for his doctoral thesis, and discovered the effect of temperature on paramagnetism which is now known as Curie's law.
Pierre was killed in a street accident in Paris on April 19, 1906.

Source: Wikipedia