The Marie Curie hospice in Hampstead became the first in the country to feature a bust of its namesake.

The bronze statue of double Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie was donated to the hospice in Lyndhurst Gardens by the Polish Heritage Society, marking the end of a two-year project celebrating the award-winning scientist.

The sculpture, which is double life-size, shows the Polish-born pioneer as a young woman about the time she would have left Warsaw for Paris where she made her scientific breakthroughs.

Chairman of the society, Marek Stella-Sawicki, said: “Too many people are affected by cancer in one way or another.

“The battle against cancer, as it exists today, would not be possible without the discoveries made by Maria Sklodowska [maiden name] Curie.”

The statue, presented to the hospice on Tuesday, is also a celebration of the life of Dr Andrew Meeson, who died last year after practising in the area for four decades.

He was former president of the Hampstead Medical Society and co-founder of the Polish Heritage Society.