Marie Curie

Marie Curie (https://thescienceclassroom.wikispaces.com/Marie+Curie)

Marie Curie, the woman who discovered radium, made many personal sacrifices to save people’s lives and change the world. Her discovery and application of radium allows people today to get x-rays that can save lives. Also, her perseverance helped save many soldiers lives during World War I. Although Marie Curie died at the age of sixty-seven in 1934 of leukemia, brought on by her years of exposure to high levels of radiation, she made an enormous impact on the world. She was the first woman honored in this way for her personal achievements. After her death the Radium Institute was renamed the Curie Institute to honor her sacrifices to advance science.

Marie Curie started her famous work on radium with her husband, Pierre Curie. They devoted themselves to the study of radioactivity and became some of the first to work with radium and polonium. In 1903, the Curies won the Nobel Prize for their work and in 1911 Marie was awarded a second Nobel Prize. Even after her husband Pierre Curie, whose health had begun to fail due to the work with radioactivity, was hit by a car and killed, she continued to work.

"Marie Curie spent the next years organizing her research, supervising the research of others, and raising funds. During World War I, Marie Curie chose to support the French war effort actively. She put her prize winnings into war bonds and fitted ambulances with portable x-ray equipment for medical purposes, driving the vehicles to the front lines. She established two hundred permanent x-ray installations in France and Belgium." (http://womenshistory.about.com/od/mariecurie/p/marie_curie.htm)

In helping so many other people, Marie Curie forgot to look after herself. Marie Curie contracted leukemia due to exposure to high levels of radioactivity. When Marie conducted research on radioactivity, nobody realized how hazardous it was to people’s health. By advancing our understanding of radiation, Marie Curie sacrificed her own health, eventually dying due to exposure to radiation. I chose her as my personal hero because of how she never gave up, despite the opposition and grief she faced. She applied what she discovered about radiation to the medical field and saved many soldiers lives during World War I. She was a truly amazing woman and her breakthroughs in science have helped people all over the world today. Marie’s selflessness and perseverance that make her my hero.