Women Who Changed History

 

Marie Curie

She is considered to be one of the most well-known scientists in history. A woman who made a remarkable discovery that changed the course of history 

 

 Her real name is Maria Salomea Skłodowska, is a Polish-born Frenchwoman who was born in Warsaw, Congress Kingdom of Poland, on November 7, 1867. She was known for her incredible memory since she was a child, and when she finished her secondary education at the age of 16, she was awarded a gold medal. Her father was a mathematics and physics teacher who lost his assets due to improper investments, pressuring her to work as a teacher while also secretly participating in the national "free university," reading in Polish to female employees.

 

She obtained a job as a babysitter when she was 18 years old, where she had an unfortunate love affair. She was able to fund her sister Bronisawa’s medical education in Paris with her wages, with the expectation that Bronisawa might subsequently support her in obtaining an education. 

 

When she arrived in Paris, she assumed the name Marie and began attending the University classes. She met well-known scientists like Jean Perrin, Charles Maurain, and Aimé Cotton there. Skodowska worked deep into the evening in her student dorm, surviving almost entirely on bread, butter, and tea.

 

It was her first step in making history as the first woman to receive a physical science license in 1893. In 1894, she took a job in Lippmann’s research lab, where she won second place in the mathematical sciences degree.

 

She met Pierre Curie, her future husband, in the spring of 1893. They were the exact definition of the dynamic couple, as their marriage signifies the beginning of a cooperation that would later lead to world-changing discoveries.  Summer of 1898 was not just a normal date, but it is a date where the history was changed as they discovered polonium, which was named after Marie’s native country, and the discovery of radium.

 

❝ Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained. ❞

 

in the summer of 1898 is not just a typical date; it is a date that changed history. Because it was on this date that they discovered polonium, which was named after Marie’s homeland, and radium. Marie Curie chose to investigate whether the characteristic revealed in uranium could be discovered in other substances as a thesis topic. She found that this was accurate for thorium. 

 

When she opened her eyes to minerals, she was captivated to pitchblende, a mineral whose energy was greater to that of pure uranium and can only be described by the existence of minute amounts of an undiscovered material with extremely high energy in the material. After that, Pierre Curie supported her in her efforts to address the dilemma, which resulted to the discovery of the novel elements polonium and radium. Marie Curie worked to isolate pure radium in the metallic phase, which she did with the help of chemist André-Louis Debierne, which was a student of her husbands. As Pierre Curie focused on the physical research of new radiations.

 

Marie's life was marked by two key milestones in June 1903: first, she earned her PHD in science and her husband was awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal Society; and second, they earned the Nobel Prize in Physics with Becquerel for discovering radioactivity, making Marie the first woman to win a Nobel prize.

 

Marie’s years 1897 and 1904 were particularly memorable for her since they were the years in which she became a mother and gave birth to her two daughters, Irène and Louise, which didn’t interfere with her hard-scientific studies. She became a professor in physics at the École Normale Supérieure for Girls in Sèvres, where she created an experimental demonstration-based teaching technique. In December 1904, she was promoted to chief assistant in Pierre Curie’s laboratory.

 

Marie Curie was devastated when Pierre Curie died suddenly on April 19, 1906, but it was also a defining moment in her professional life, since it spurred her to devote all of her concentration to complete the scientific work that they had begun together. She was the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne when she was assigned to the professorship left empty by her husband’s death. She was also appointed honorary professor in 1908. In addition, her fundamental book on radioactivity was released in 1910.

 

1911 was the year all her hard work and dedication was paid off, when she was given the second Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the isolation of pure radium, becoming the first person ever to win a second Nobel Prize. In 1914, she witnessed the construction of the Radium Institutes labs at the University of Paris.

 

On July 4, 1934, Marie's legacy came to an end when she died in Sallanches, France. Leaving a lasting legacy and improving the perception of women by demonstrating that women can be moms, wives, and scientists capable of changing the world.

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