by Not only was Marie Curie a pioneer in the field of radioactivity and physics, but because of her work and passion, she became a trailblazer by helping neutralize the gender gap of the scientific world. Even with her success in the scientific field being nothing short of magnificent, especially at a time when women were seen as too mild mannered and gentle to work in the physical sciences, the magnitude of the influence of her work puts her in a class of her own; one that transcends gender.
Marie Sklodowska Curie was born in Warsaw, which was under Russian occupation at the time. Since she was young, Marie Curie was quite awkward, but had a passion for learning, and was recognized early as a prodigy. Some speculate that her mother’s early passing helped drive her passion for learning and the physical sciences, and that her death caused Marie not to believe god.
Due to the occupation, to begin her education, Curie had to attend a constantly moving school which taught outlawed concepts such as Polish history as well math and literature. At 24, she would move to Paris to study mathematics, physics and chemistry at The Sorbonne, later known as the University of Paris. She had little money, and she spent what she had to afford attending there. She would often ration food and occasionally collapse due to malnutrition. This is not necessarily a good habit, and by no means maintainable means for attending school, but it was a testament of her determination to learn. In 1894, she met Pierre Curie, an already established scientist, and a year later they were married. The Curies continued upon the previous work of Henry Becquerel and his discovery of X-rays and radiation emitted from Uranium. Eventually, she theorized that the rays emitted were natural phenomena and property of Uranium atoms and were a direct result of the decay, or short half-life of the atoms. At the time, this discovery and claim was bold. But it reshaped how other scientists viewed atoms because it was originally thought that atoms could not be split and that they were stable things. It can be argued that her thesis thus caused a scientific revolution in itself because of how it transformed the fields outlook on elements, their properties and matter in general. In her thesis she herself coined the term “Radioactivity”. When discussions of a Nobel Prize arose, members of the selection committee originally wanted to award just her husband and Becquerel, but through Pierres adamance, they decided to award all three. In 1903, she became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. At the awarding ceremony however, the President of the academy quoted the bible, stating, “It is not good that man should be alone, I will make a helpmeet for him.” Marie Curie was more than “helpmeet” though. She was the pioneer and driving force behind this discovery. She broke their predispositions about women in a male dominated field and paved the way for a new era of female scientists.
However, Marie Curie wasn’t done. She would go on to discover two new elements, Polonium and Radium and win a second Nobel Prize in 1911. The first person, man or woman, to do so, and remains the first person to do so.
Marie Curie was an extraordinary person, scientist and mother who brushed off the nay-sayers and sexists of the time to dedicate her life to furthering the advancement of human understanding of physics and chemistry. What she achieved in a couple decades is more than many can hope to achieve in a couple of lifetimes, which is why she is among some the greatest minds in scientific history, if not head and shoulders above them. She not only created a new understanding within her fields, but a new understanding and appreciation for the ability of women that worked within them.
Sources:
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/marie-curie/biographical/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/madame-curies-passion-74183598/
https://www.livescience.com/38907-marie-curie-facts-biography.html