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Marie Curie was born Marie Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867 (Caluraud, 2013). During that time, Sir Alexander the Second eliminated any form of resistance in Poland and proclaimed Russian as the official language. As a result, Russian teachers and civil servants took the Pole’s jobs (Caluraud, 2013). Curie’s father, Wladyslaw was a mathematics and physics teacher. He read banned Polish literature and the works of Dickens to his children. Her mother, Bronislawa was also a teacher and a headmistress at a girl’s private school. She suffered from tuberculosis, and Marie could not understand why she could not embrace or kiss her (Caluraud, 2013). Her death was a big blow to the family, and Marie had a difficult time grieving her. At the age of 10, her father enrolled her in a girls’ school. Her best subjects were history, literature, and French. After graduating from high school, she joined a university where she pursued clandestine studies. At the time, it was unthinkable for a girl to pursue a career in science. Therefore, she had to craft a plan with her sister Bronia. She worked as a housekeeper for five years in order to enable her elder sister to complete her medical studies, and offer financial assistance to her father (Caluraud, 2013).
Marie’s plan with her sister Bronia went as planned. When she went to France to study, her sister, who was now married, offered support to ensure that she survived and passed her examinations (Caluraud, 2013). At the time, women in France were perceived as second-class human beings; unreasonable, ignorant, fit only for child-bearing, and taking care of their families. Physics, biology, Greek and Latin were reserved for boys (Caluraud, 2013). However, foreign students were an exception. Girls were mainly allowed to pursue practical courses. In 1891, Marie was the first woman to pass her entrance exams at the faculty of physics and chemistry. This was a great achievement as the university was dominated by men. She received financial support from her sister and brother-in-law. However, life was very difficult for her.
Despite the numerous hardships she encountered, Marie graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics in 1893 (Caluraud, 2013). She was awarded a research contract in Gabriel Lippmann’s industrial laboratory. While working at the laboratory, she continued with her education at the university, and graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics in 1894 (Caluraud, 2013). Marie was very focused on her work and education. As a result, she declined several invitations to go out and have fun. She was always solving physics and Mathematics problems.
Marie and her sister Bronia worked out a plan that would allow them to pursue their passions. Bronia was her elder sister who supported her financially when she went to Paris to study at the University of Paris.
Marie met Pierre Curie in 1894. during their meeting, Pierre was an accomplished physicist who was credited with the discovery of piezoelectricity. Moreover, he had been working as a work supervisor at the School for Industrial Physics and Chemistry for fourteen years (Caluraud, 2013). They met at a time when Pierre was working on his thesis about magnetism. Marie wanted to learn more about the topic. Henri Becquerel, the scientist who discovered radioactivity, played an influential role in the lives of Pierre and Marie. After a year of dating, Pierre married Marie on July 25, 1895, in a small ceremony that did not involve the exchange of rings (Caluraud, 2013). In 1897, Marie got her first daughter Irene, who was awarded the Nobel Prize together with her husband for the artificial discovery of radioactivity in 1935 (Caluraud, 2013). Her second daughter Eve was born in 1904, and she became a pianist and writer.
In Pierre, Marie had found a husband, lover, and someone to share, her passion for science. Pierre played a significant role in Marie’s discovery of a new element, Radium. They mainly worked in a shack that was criticized by a German chemist, Wilhelm Ostwald. At first, when he was introduced to the workstation, Ostwald thought that they were joking.
In the Autumn of 1897, Marie chose to study rays that were discovered by Becquerel as a topic for her thesis. While working on uranium, she discovered that Uranium ores emitted an excess amount of radiation (Caluraud, 2013). As a result, she decided to conduct research in order to find the source of the energy. Between 1898 and 1902, she engaged in work to determine how to measure the atomic mass of a new element. The work was arduous as she did not have all the necessary resources needed for scientific study. Together with her husband Pierre, they worked out of a shack that the German chemist, Wilhelm Ostwald described as “a cross between a stable and a potato shed.” (Caluraud, 2013) In 1903, she defended her thesis on the new element radium at the University of Paris. The examiners declared that the results of her study contributed significantly to scientific knowledge more than any other doctorate thesis presented (Caluraud, 2013). As a result, Marie became the first woman in history to earn a doctorate in physics. She demonstrated the existence of radium and defined its atomic mass.
The 1903 Nobel Prize was a complex story as it was awarded to Marie, 6 months after presenting her thesis at the University of Paris. Originally, the Nobel Prize nominating committee had omitted her name (Caluraud, 2013). They had nominated several discoveries in the field of radioactivity but had failed to recognize Marie’s contributions. A member of the committee, Gosta Leffler notified Pierre regarding the omission of his wife’s name (Caluraud, 2013). Pierre wrote the committee, arguing that he should be considered together with his wife because they had worked on the discoveries together. The committee gave in to Pierre’s demands, and she was awarded the Nobel Prize (Caluraud, 2013). The sexist attitudes toward women are evident in the unethical treatment of Marie by the nominating committee. After the death of Pierre, Marie was offered a pension by the French government. However, she declined it, claiming that she was young enough to work and earn an income.
During World War 1, hundreds of thousands of people died because they did not receive medical care. During the first week, 747,000 Germans and 854,000 French soldiers suffered injuries and several succumbed (Caluraud, 2013). Marie discovered that the deaths were due to a lack of medical care. The French Army had a single portable radiological unit that could not serve a large number of wounded soldiers. Marie took an accelerated course in anatomy and radiological techniques (Caluraud, 2013). He was able to secure 20 ambulances from the French government to use on the battlefields. She worked together with her daughter Irene, and as a result of their service, more than one million soldiers were x-rayed and thousands were treated (Caluraud, 2013). Owing to her contribution as chief of the radiology unit in a military hospital, the French government awarded Irene a medal. Marie’s contributions were not recognized by the government.
In 1920, an American journalist, Miss Maloney traveled to Paris to conduct an interview with Marie. She discovered that Marie was a humble scientist living in a small apartment that his meager professor’s salary could afford (Caluraud, 2013). Her laboratory had less than a gram of Radium while laboratories in the United States had 50 grams at their disposal. Maloney invited her to the US, and she was welcomed in New York by a crowd of people and an orchestra. She gave lectures to groups of girls, encouraging them to venture into the field of science (Caluraud, 2013). On May 20, President hardy gave Marie a key to a green box that looked like a case with Radium. She returned t America in 1929 and received money from president Hoover to buy another gram of Radium for her experiments (Caluraud, 2013). The money was donated by the Polish community in the United States. In 1932, in the presence of the Polish president, Marie planted a tree in front of the Radium Institute.
According to professor Jillian Banfield, a Laureate for North America, Marie was an inspirational woman. She overcame enormous obstacles in her career, especially the sexist attitudes that prevailed in France during her time (Caluraud, 2013). Leading a research laboratory and making fundamental discoveries that changed the field of science were amazing feats. Greco, a singer, contends that Marie made significant contributions that changed medicine forever. Her discoveries have saved many lives, and her generosity and intelligence were amazing (Caluraud, 2013). Marie was lucky because when she went to France, she found both love and science. Marcia Roye is a doctor in Molecular Virology, and Assistant Director of the third University Cycle at the University of West Indies, Kingston Jamaica. She recognizes Marie for being the only woman in over a century to win two Nobel prizes in two different areas of science (Caluraud, 2013): Chemistry and Physics. She compares herself to Marie in the sense that they are both women, mothers, and lovers of science. However, she states that becoming a paltry 5% of who Marie was would make her satisfied. She died at Sancellemos in France on July 4, 1934 (Caluraud, 2013). She went down in history as the only woman to have won two Nobel Prices in two different science fields.
The documentary on Marie Curie is highly informative. It covers all areas of her life: birth, childhood, university education, career, and death. Each of these areas is explored in-depth, and in each, her achievements and challenges are highlighted. The greater part of the film focuses on her career life: her work on radioactivity and the discovery of Radium. The producers highlight the challenges she encountered as a woman trying to leave her mark in science, ta field that was dominated by men. She overcame numerous barriers and made discoveries that changed science forever. The documentary is an inspiration, especially to women who are interested in pursuing careers in science. The film is transparent as it presents both the positive and negative sides of Marie. Moreover, it presents the facts as they are, refraining from manipulating information in order to present an image of Marie that they prefer.
Reference
Caluraud, G. (2013). Women who changed the world: in the footsteps of Marie Curie. YouTube.
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