The Story of Marie Curie, The First Women To Ever Receive A Noble Prize.
Maria Sklodowska was born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 7th, 1867. Both her parents were teachers. Her father, who was a math and physics teacher, played a significant role in influencing Maria’s career in science. Sadly, her mother died of tuberculosis when she was only 10.
Marie Curie’s perseverance was impressive when facing numerous challenges in her lifetime. As she decided to resume her studies at Krakow University, Marie Curie was refused merely because she was a woman. So she was obliged to secretly pursue her studies at Warsaw’s “Flying University,” an underground educational institution at the time.
Marie Curie: The Road Towards Success
Going to France with her sister in 1891, Curie was eventually able to receive a formal education at the University of Paris, where she studied physics and mathematics. And in 1894 she met her husband-to-be, Pierre Curie. Together, the Curies started studying radioactivity, drawing on the work of physicists Wilhelm Roentgen and Henri Becquerel.
In 1898, the Curies have discovered 2 new chemical components: polonium and radium. After writing numerous articles on her pioneering research, Marie Curie became the first female professor at the University of Paris; reminding those around her that there is room for women in higher education and confronting the traditional roles of men and women in her life.
In 1903, the Nobel Prize for Physics was jointly awarded to the Curies and Becquerel, making Marie Curie the first female to receive a Nobel Prize.
When World War I erupted in 1914, Curie committed herself to create mobile x-ray devices (known as “Little Curies”) to help treat wounded soldiers. She became head of the Red Cross Radiology Service and established the first military radiology center in France.
During the first year of the war, she enabled the creation of 20 of its “Little Curies” and 200 other radiological units in field hospitals. And it is estimated that more than a million injured soldiers were treated with her X-ray devices.
On July 4th, 1934, Curie died of aplastic anemia, which is believed to be caused by her excessive exposure to radiation. Her eldest daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, followed in her mother’s footsteps, and she herself received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935, along with her husband, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, for her finding of artificial radioactivity.
While Marie Curie lived over a century ago, her legacy remains today. Marie Curie is among the most famous scientists in history, her research was always crucial to the progress of the battle against cancer, and was known to be the “most inspiring woman in science.”
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