Heroes and Cultural Identity Project
SCE Heroes - Marie Curie
Marie Curie - my Scientific Heroine
The
extent of her achievements was outstanding! Many scientists would consider
it the pinnacle of their career, and would be content to rest on their
laurels if they were awarded the Nobel Prize once. Marie Curie was awarded,
together with her husband Pierre Curie, half of the Nobel Prize for Physics
in 1903. Despite the tragic death of her husband she continued with her
research and went on to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911. She
was then the first person to have received a Nobel Prize twice and she
did so for two different areas of science.
She was Head of the Physics Laboratory at the Sorbonne and was the first
woman to hold the position of Professor of General Physics in the Faculty
of Sciences. She was held in high esteem and admiration by scientists
throughout the world and was a fine example to the women of her own time
and to countless women since.
She dedicated her life to science in order to benefit humanity and was
once quoted as saying:
"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals.
To that end, each of us must work for our own improvement and, at the
same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular
duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful."
She persevered tirelessly with her research, which involved the handling
of radioactive substances, often in facilities which were not appropriate.
This ultimately led to her death by leukemia in 1934, thought to have
been brought on by exposure to high levels of radiation in the course
of her years of research.
Hazel Martin is a science student following a one year university access course in biological sciences.
