Marie Curie

Despite Marie Curie's long list of triumphs, she still devoted many years of her life helping and caring for complete strangers. After the start of World War I, Marie Curie wished to help in some way. She was:

"Unable to continue her experiments after the outbreak of World War I and eager to be of service, she received approval to operate X-ray machines on the battlefield so that the wounded could receive immediate treatment. It was exhausting and dangerous work, but within two years she had established two hundred permanent X-ray units throughout France and Belgium." ("Marie Curie." Contemporary).

Marie Curie put herself in harm's way, in battlefields, to operate X-ray machines to help save injured soldiers. She worked hard to establish two hundred permanent X-ray machines which rescued many lives. Without her help, hospitals would have had to gone many years without the equipment, potentially killing soldiers due to the inability to locate exact injuries (Yannuzzi 100). Her endeavors in World War I demonstrate her care for people she didn't even know. During World War I, Marie Curie also created X-ray cars, that she named Petite Curies, to treat and care for thousands of soldiers. She used them to, "...set up X-ray facilities along the front lines. Now soldiers who fell in battle could be examined and their wounds properly diagnosed. Marie Curie's effort saved the lives and limbs of thousands of soldiers wounded during World War I." (Yannuzzi 101-102). Because Marie Curie took care of the soldiers, she saved not only the lives of thousands, but she changed their lives too. Many people that would have lost their limbs due to an injury, would get to keep their arm or leg, thanks to her efforts in the war. An illustration of Marie Curie's care for others can be seen in the later years of her life. Marie Curie worked arduously to help others and, "Except for World War I, during which she drove an ambulance, Curie spent the remainder of her life studying the role of radium therapy." ("Marie Curie." World of Health). Marie Curie could have just retired after all of her great awards and achievements, but instead she worked in World War I driving ambulances and saving lives. She then spent the rest of her life studying radium therapy and found out that radiation could cure cancer ("Marie Curie and the radioactivity"). With all her contributions already, it is amazing that she still spent years of her life helping others and caring for strangers. Because of Marie Curie's selflessness and care for others, she helped save thousands and found that it is possible to cure cancer with radiation. Her efforts reflect the true hero inside of her for all to see.

Through her brilliance, devotion to strangers and her perseverance it is evident that Marie Curie is a hero. Marie Curie's biggest gifts to the world has to have been the discovery of radium, polonium, and her discovery that radiation can cure cancer. Marie Curie almost always excels at what she does thanks to her seemingly unbreakable  concentration (Yannuzzi 11-12). In her high school years, she was, "...an outstanding student who graduated at the top of her high school class when she was only fifteen. She then spent eight years working as a tutor and a governess to earn enough money to attend the Sorbonne in Paris." ("Marie Curie." Contemporary). Marie Curie was a hard working student and inspires me to be one too. She tends to take the less traveled road and has always worked to the best of her ability. Marie Curie inspires me to reach for my goals and challenge myself in everything I do.  Furthermore, Marie Curie's greatness can be commonly seen in everything she does. Even working with her husband, Marie Curie's work outshines:

"In collaboration with her physicist-husband Pierre Curie, Marie Curie developed and introduced the concept of radioactivity to the world. Working in very primitive laboratory conditions, Curie investigated the nature of high energy rays spontaneously produced by certain elements, and isolated two new radioactive elements, polonium and radium. Her scientific efforts also included the application of X-rays and radioactivity to medical treatments" ("Marie Curie." World of Chemistry).