On November 7, 1867, Maria Sklodowska was born in Warsaw, Soviet Poland, to Wladyslaw and Bronislawa Sklowdowski. Maria, called Manya by her friends and family, was the youngest of her four siblings. His brothers and sisters, Sophie, the eldest; Joseph, the only boy; Bronislawa, named after his mother; and Helena, all had nicknames too. Respectively, they were Zosia, Bronya and Hela. Wladyslaw, a multilingual mathematics and physics teacher, and Bronislawa, headmistress of a private girls' school. The Sklowdoskis believed strongly in education and encouraged their children to start learning as early as possible. However, the whole family was surprised when Manya started reading complete sentences from a book at the age of four. From then on, Manya had a passion for learning that was only encouraged by her family, even though her siblings made fun of her. Around the same time, Wladyslaw lost his job because he was not pro-Russian enough and often clashed with his superiors; the family moved into an apartment, still in Warsaw, and took in boarders to pay the bills. The following year, Manya's mother contracted tuberculosis....