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Pierre was educated at home by his father, and in his early teens showed a strong aptitude for mathematics and geometry. 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 demonstrated that an electric potential was generated when crystals were compressed. Shortly afterwards, 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 phenomenon in the form of crystal oscillators.

Prior to his famous doctoral studies on magnetism he designed and perfected an extremely sensitive torsion balance for measuring magnetic coefficients. Variations on this equipment were commonly used by future workers in that area. Pierre Curie 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. The material constant in Curie's law is known as the Curie constant. He also discovered that ferromagnetic substances exhibited a critical temperature transition, above which the substances lost their ferromagnetic behaviour. This is now known as the Curie point.

Pierre worked with his wife Marie Curie in isolating polonium and radium. They were the first to use the term 'radioactivity', and were pioneers in its study. Their work, including Marie's celebrated doctoral work, made use of a sensitive piezoelectric electrometer constructed by Pierre and his brother Jacques.

Pierre and one of his students made the first discovery of nuclear energy, by identifying the continuous emission of heat from radium particles. He also investigated the radiation emissions of radioactive substances, and through the use of magnetic fields was able to show that some of the emissions were positively charged, some were negative and some were neutral. These correspond to alphaAlpha particles or alpha rays are a form of particle radiation which are highly ionizing and have low penetration. They consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle that is identical to a helium nucleus, and can be written as He2, betaBeta radiation is a form of ionizing radiation emitted by certain types of radioactive nuclei such as potassium-40. This radiation is in the form of beta (β) particles, which are high-energy electrons or positrons ejected from a nucleus in a process and gamma radiation.

Together with his wife, Marie, Pierre was awarded the Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes (pronounced no-BELL or no-bell are awarded annually to people who have done outstanding research, invented groundbreaking techniques or equipment, or made outstanding contributions to society. It is generally regarded as the supreme comme in physics in 1903: "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri BecquerelAntoine Henri Becquerel ( December 15, 1852 August 25, 1908) was a French physicist, Nobel laureate, and one of the discoverers of radioactivity. Becquerel was born in Paris into a scientific family which, including him and his son, produced four generati."

The curie is a unit of radioactivity (3.7 x 10¹⁰ decays per second) originally named in honour of Pierre Curie by the Radiology Congress in 1910, after Pierre's death.

Pierre died as a result of a carriage accident in a rain storm while crossing the rue Dauphine in Paris during April 1906 after having his head crushed under the carriage wheel, thereby avoiding probable death by radiation poisoningRadiation poisoning also called "radiation sickness", is a form of damage to organic tissue due to excessive exposure to ionizing radiation. The term is generally used to refer to acute problems caused by a large dosage of radiation in a short period., which later killed his wife. Both Pierre and Marie were enshrined in the crypt of the Pantheon in Paris in April 1995.

Pierre and Marie Curie's daughter Irène Joliot-CurieIrene Joliot-Curie ( September 12, 1897 March 17, 1956) was a French scientist, the daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie and the wife of Frederic Joliot. She was born in Paris, France. She studied at the Faculty of Science at the Sorbonne but her education and their son-in-law Frédéric Joliot-Curie were also physicists involved in the study of radioactivity.