The Women Who Changed Science Forever.
She suffered from the part the world wished her to play, she did not know how to be famous.
Becoming the first female scientist in history, she was turned down by a university only for being a woman. You may have been aware of the woman I am referring to, Marie Curie, who was the only person to earn two Noble Prizes for discovering radium and polonium.
Prologue:
At Brussels’ renowned Solvay Conference in 1927, 29 of the world’s leading physicists convened. Marie Curie was alone among the women present. She experienced many firsts, as you have seen already.
Best remembered for saving a million lives during World War I with her research on radioactivity, Curie is a trailblazer in the field. But in the end, let her take the lead.
EARLY DAYS:
The Polish city of Warsaw is home to Marie Curie’s birthplace, Salomea Sklodowska. Being a teacher’s child, she was the youngest. The headmistress of a prominent boarding school for girls was Bronislawa Sklodowska, her mother. With pride in his Polish background, her father, Wladyslaw Sklodowski, taught math and physics. His Russian bosses had him take lower-paying jobs because of his patriotism. A poor investment also cost him his money. They had to take in boarders who were students in order to support his five children.
Typhus claimed the life of Zofia, Maria’s older sister. A few years later, TB claimed her mother’s life.
Following the tragedy, Maria converted to agnosticism and abandoned her mother’s religion, which was Catholicism.
Due to her gender, Maria was not permitted to attend university even though she graduated from high school at the top of her class. Universities were off-limits to women under the Russian Empire. So, in order to escape the prying eyes of Czarist authorities, she and her sister Bronislawa enrolled at the covert flying university, also known as Floating University, in Warshaw. The school was named for the constantly shifting location of courses.
At the age of 24, she started studying mathematics and physics at the Sorbonne, the University of Paris.
Even with the challenges, Marie wrote, “It was like a new world open to me, the world of science, which I was at last permitted to know in all liberty.” She expressed her amazement at her freedom.
Entry of Pierre Curie:
She departed from her homeland of Poland to further her education in Paris, where she faced years of extreme poverty driven by a profound sense of purpose. There, she met a man who shared her brilliance. he married him; their happiness was unique.
Research Odyssey Starts:
In 1903, Marie earned her Doctor of Science degree from the Sorbonne. Her thesis focused on radiation, a phenomenon recently discovered in uranium by Henri Becquerel. Fascinated by Becquerel’s findings, she delved deeper into the subject.
Pierre Joined Marie:
Pierre was so engrossed in her quest that he abandoned his own work to accompany her. And the long wait was over, the Noble Prize in Physics in 1903 went to Marie, Pierre, and Becquerel for their radiation research.
French academics proposed that only Pierre and Becquerel have received the prize, leaving Marie out. However, a sympathetic member of the nominating committee, Gosta Mittage-Leffler alerted Pierre to the situation. He insisted that his wife share the honor. Marie Curie became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize.
To accept the award in person, they were both too preoccupied with their studies. Pierre felt ill as well, experiencing weariness and agony. They were unaware of the potential health risks associated with their research. It was said that Marie carried Uranium cubes in her pocket, by what she described as “faint fairy lights.” Little did she know this was slowly killing her.
Whilst the two scientists and their donors were becoming well-known throughout the globe, Marie was overcome with sadness over the sudden death of her husband, who had been a lovely companion.
But in spite of distress and physical illness, she continued alone the work that had begun with him and brilliantly developed science they had created together.
Second Noble Prize:
The unglamorous work of extracting and isolating the element took place in a leaky and drafty shack near Pierre’s work as they didn’t have a dedicated lab space. Their efforts paid off. A second Noble Prize — this time in Chemistry for the discovery of polonium and radium, the isolation of radium, and the study of the nature of that remarkable element.
Rumors prevail; Albert Einstein support:
The affair between her and doctor Paul Langevin, a former student of her husband, was widely covered by the French press.
He wrote her a letter of encouragement during this dark period: “I am impelled to tell you how much I have come to admire your intellect, drive, and honesty. Simply don’t read that hogwash.”
Curie went to Stockholm to accept her 2nd Noble Prize and the headlines of the affair eventually blew over.
War Broke out:
The rest of her life revolves around a kind of perpetual giving. To the war wounded she gave her devotion and her health. She studied the work of German scientist Wilhelm Roentgen who had discovered x-rays. She then bought the X-ray machines called “little curies” to help surgeons locate and remove shrapnel and bullets from wounded soldiers.
It was estimated that her effort saved the lives of millions of men but may have cost her own.
The ungrateful French Government:
Her humanitarian initiatives were never recognized or accorded the attention she deserved by the French government.
Whereas she was increasing fame abroad. In 1921, U.S. President Warren Harding invited her to the white house and gave her a gram of radium to aid her research. The French government was embarrassed by the fact that they gave her no distinctions, so they offered her the country’s most distinguished honor Légion d’Honneur (the Legion of Honour).
She declined.
LEGACY LIVES ON:
On one sunny day in May 1934, she stayed until half past three in the physical laboratory, wearily touching the tubes and the apparatus — her faithful companions.
“I have a fever, and must go home.”
She did not leave her bed again.
On July 4, 1934, Curie died at the age of 66. Curie was buried at a cemetery in Sceaux, the suburbs of Paris where she married, and where her husband lay. Her remains remained radioactive, so she was placed in a coffin lined with lead. Even her papers are still radioactive today.
Professor Regaud: “Madame Curie can be counted among the eventual victims of the radioactive bodies that she and her husband discovered.”
The unwavering character structure, the unrelenting intelligence, and the selfless self-immolation of a person who could give all and take nothing made Marie Curie even more unique than her work or life.
Honoring her contributions, we remember Marie Curie as a pioneering scientist whose groundbreaking work on radiation forever changed the world.
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