HEROINES From History
The ultimate working mother, Marie Curie combined family life with an exalted scientific career
Few women have achieved as many “firsts” as Marie Curie. She was the first woman to win a Nobel prize, the first person ever to win it twice, and, 60 years after her death, the first woman to be enshrined in the Paris Pantheon monument for
“great men”.
Born Maria Salomea Skłodowska in November 1867 to two teacher parents in Warsaw, she fought hard for her education. After leaving school she studied at the clandestine Flying University in Warsaw. Women in education was frowned upon in what was then a country under control of the Russian Empire.
In 1891 she moved to France, changed her name to Marie and began studying physics, chemistry and maths at the University of Paris. She also met her future husband Frenchman Pierre Curie. After meeting, but before marrying, Marie returned to Poland but her stay was short-lived when Krakow University refused to allow her to enrol because she was a woman. Instead, with wwwwww.myweeklymyweekly.coco.uk
Pierre’s encouragement, she returned to Paris to focus on her PhD studies. The couple married on July 26, 1895.
Together they focused on radiation and the discovery of new elements. Marie juggled work with a young family, giving birth to her first daughter Irène in 1897. To supplement their family income she took on additional teaching work.
“I have frequently been questioned,” she said, “especially by women, of how I could reconcile family life with a scientific career. Well, it has not been easy.”
Marie published various academic papers but her first major discovery – made in the shed she worked from in the absence of a proper laboratory – came in 1898 when she and Pierre announced a new element they called polonium. Later the same year they announced their discovery of radium. Not only had Marie identified the element but she discovered it destroyed cancer cells quicker than it destroyed healthy cells, making it one of the first things used in radiation cancer treatments.
By 1902 the couple had published more than 30 scientific papers on their work. During this time Marie became the first female faculty member at the École Normale Supérieure, a prestigious graduate school.
Her first major public recognition came in December 1903 when, along with Pierre and fellow scientist Prof Henri Becquerel, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for “extraordinary services” to science. The award was initially intended for Pierre and Henry but Pierre fought for his wife to be included as she was the lead scientist.
“How do I reconcile family life with a scientific career? It has not been easy!”