Radiating Success
Written By: Caitlyn Castaneda
Marie Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics. Later, she received yet another in Chemistry.
Marie Curie was born on November 7, 1867 and was the youngest. She craved education and did well in school, which followed her parents’ occupations of teachers. Unfortunately, she lost her mother to tuberculosis at age 10.
She always wanted to study abroad and gain more knowledge in a higher learning facility, but unfortunately her family did not have enough money to afford it. However, Curie and her sister Bronya worked together to ensure they would both get a college education. In her time before college, and in order to pay for her sister's education, Curie worked. Curie was a tutor and also studied STEM subjects such as physics, chemistry, and math. In 1891, Curie attended Sorbonne in Paris. Due to putting funds towards her education, Curie was put on a diet of buttered bread and tea. She was a dedicated student, but her health did suffer from it.
Sorbonne University in Paris
Marie Curie’s time building on her education did come with great success, however. Curie began to experiment with uranium rays. She discovered that uranium produced a constant ray, which she coined as “radioactivity”. With this discovery, the entire field of atomic physics came to be. Working alongside her husband Pierre in 1898, Marie discovered the new element polonium: a radioactive element that was named after Marie’s home country, Poland. In 1902, Pierre and Marie were also able to discover and produce radium, confirming it as its own element.
In 1914, World War I began, and Marie Curie greatly contributed to helping the soldiers. She started to develop X-rays, specifically portable ones. These would take on the nickname of “Little Curies”, in her honor. Realizing she had gained quite a leverage, Curie started to travel and raise money to continue radium research.
Curie’s influence was clear not only to the societal field, but also legitimately in the educational field. Curie won two Nobel Prizes. One she received in 1903 for physics, and the other in 1911 for chemistry. What made Curie stand out from the rest is that she was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize, and even more so, that she was the only person to receive a Nobel Prize twice. Her record still stands today.
A portable X-Ray developed by Marie Curie
Unfortunately, Curie died on July 4, 1934 of aplastic anemia. Many believe that this was due to the constant exposure of radioactivity that she received while doing research. In fact, Curie allowed it to be close to her to the extent she had carried test tubes of it in her lab coat’s pockets. She is buried in the Panthéon (in Paris) alongside her husband Pierre. Curie stands as a symbol for women in STEM, and also an example of respect. It’s worth noting that she was the first woman to be laid in the Panthéon, which four more later followed, and the Panthéon is where France buries its smartest citizens. Marie Curie is a true example of how anyone can achieve high recognition in the field of science.
Sources:
Röntgen, Wilhelm Conrad. “Marie Curie - Movie, Children & Death.” Biography (Bio.), 3 April 2014, https://www.biography.com/scientists/marie-curie. Accessed 9 February 2024.
