Marie Curie

Marie Curie: the Mother of Radiation Marie Curie studying the works of radiumtop10leatherjournals.com

Being stuck in poorly ventilated laboratory, ripping blocks of black uraninite into molecules, doing trial and error experiments even though the result was always error. Although never giving up until there was solid evidence. Marie Curie went through some of the most grueling of scientific processes to prove her scientific theories to the rest of the world when it doubted her. Marie Curie is the founder of radiation, which she discovered in 1903. She is known for her advancements in the scientific field and being the first woman to win 2 Nobel prizes. One for chemistry and one for physics. She was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1867 and died in 1934. She applied for a university in Warsaw, however, was rejected because she was a woman. But that didn’t stop her, she later moved to Paris, France to continue her studies. Madame Curie was ignored and criticized by many men, except, surpassed them during her studies when she discovered radiation and 2 new elements Radium and Polonium. A hero is any person who doesn’t give on their dreams no matter what anyone thinks and is not afraid to go against others’ views of them. Marie Curie broke stereotypes about women in the male-dominated scientific industry and had perseverance through her work. Inspiring many other women around the world to do the same.

Mme Curie got criticism from many around the world for wanting to be a physicist however, those boundaries that were set didn’t stop her from doing what she loved. The 20th Century labeled women as weak, unintelligent, and incapable of thinking. Mme Curie broke those stereotypes and excelled past many during her era. While she also earned a title of one of the greatest scientists of all time.

Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize again in 1911, this time "for her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium,". The first scientist to win the Nobel twice, Curie devoted most of the money to her scientific studies ("Marie Curie." Notable Women Scientists).

Marie Curie breaking the odds and joining the high ranks of male scientistscambridgeblog.orgScience, at the time, was a male-dominated field that wasn’t very accepting to women. Mme Curie made many major discoveries, radiation being one of them, making her a famous female icon. Many stereotypes of women were broken by her. For example, that women were dumb, were only meant to stay at home, and that they were all crazy. Which was totally untrue because there were many amazing female icons during that time period. In both chemistry and physics she soared above and beyond many of her colleagues even though her education was very limited. She didn’t allow others to shape what she was going to do in her life. Along with shaping who she was going to be in her life. Mme Curie went against those views and changed them forever, to be more current to how the reality was. Through all of her actions she was able to convince other women to not be constricted by others’ stereotypes. Marie Curie wasn’t only one of the first major woman in science, she was also the first woman that won a Nobel Prize and won it again. Influencing the changes of how women would be allowed into scientific research.

Until the twentieth century, women were generally excluded from scientific and medical careers...Science was viewed as a "man's world," in part because science was based heavily on math, and women were stereotyped as being poor mathematicians. These views had not changed much by the early twentieth century, so most medical schools and graduate science programs remained closed to women ("Women in Science." American Decades Primary Sources).

She devoted all of her work, even during hard times like World War 1, to advancing the modern world. Some of her work included the modern day x-ray and carbon-dating. Everyone doubted her theories and research. Men, women, even her colleagues thought she was insane. Nonetheless, she ignored them and proved them wrong when the theories became true. She showed the population of the world that the women in science could be just as good as men no matter the circumstances. Mme Curie didn’t tolerate others' boundaries of her. She broke those stereotypes of the scientific field and showed that they don’t matter by using her knowledge to prove them wrong.

Marie Curie had perseverance through the tough blocks of her journey as a scientist. She was heavily critiqued, rumored about, and judged. However, despite these setbacks, she continued to try to achieve her goals of advancing the world. Mme Curie discovered new elements named Polonium and realized there were many more elements that had these specific attributes. Through countless hours, she started to discover an element called Radium which was apparently a couple of times more radioactive than Polonium.

Curie continued to spend time in the laboratory, determined to isolate pure polonium and pure radium to remove any remaining doubts about the existence of the two new elements. Her success resulted in her winning the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911. Within three years Curie was heading two laboratories, one in her native Warsaw and one at the Sorbonne, known as the Radium Institute ("Marie Curie." Scientists: Their Lives and Works).

Marie Curie studying in her (radioactive) office the marysue.comDue to her amazing efforts of discovering radioactivity, she was leading 2 major labs to further enhance these pieces of evidence to pull the world into the new future. Even with these new resources, there were still some extremely hard times where experiments would be a complete failure or research efforts would become unresponsive. But she didn’t let those setbacks stop her from her work. She persevered through it all. And, by doing so, she made some major enhancements to the world. While leading those 2 labs, she realized it would take a lot more effort than expected to continue her research of radiation.

”To separate this element, however, would require a great deal of effort, progressively separating pitchblende by chemical analysis and then measuring the radioactivity of the separate components. In July, 1898, successfully extracted an element from this ore that was even more radioactive than uranium; they called it polonium in honor of Marie's homeland. Six months later, the pair discovered another radioactive substance—radium—embedded in the pitchblende” ("Marie Curie." DISCovering Biography)

Portrait of Marie Curiecommons.wikimedia.orgMarie Curie spent 6 months stuck in the laboratories trying to find this new element. Multiple human errors, unsuccessful labs, or the data was wrong. But she powered through and ended up successful, baffling the minds of many including her own. She used her perseverance to help the greater good of the world no matter what anyone thought of her. Which led her to achieving one of her dreams of being a big figure for women in science. Marie Curie one of the brightest minds of women ever.

Inspiring many women to join the scientific industry, Marie Curie had perseverance through all of her hard work and broke the stereotypical views of the people who didn’t like women participating in science. Marie Curie's research of radioactivity and radioactive elements helped pull the world into the new future with new discoveries. Except making those discoveries were never easy. Many long days staying in labs, looking over tables of data, and collaborating with scientists who wouldn’t take Mme Curie seriously because she was a women. However, she ended up being taken seriously after her of her theories were proven to be true. She went against the critics view of her and inspired many women to do the same. Her perseverance got her through it all.  She inspires myself and other women because she showed that we don’t belong in a cage of stereotypical views others’ create for us. She also is an inspiration to me because she didn’t give up her work no matter how hard and confusing it got. Marie Curie was known as a strong female figure in the world. All of her achievements are still known today by some of the greatest minds of our time.

Works Cited

"Marie Curie." DISCovering Biography, Gale, 2003. Research in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2102100437/MSIC?u=powa9245&sid=MSIC&xid=1c84a212. Accessed 26 Mar. 2018.

"Marie Curie." Notable Women Scientists, Gale, 2009. Biography In Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1668000091/BIC?u=powa9245&sid=BIC&xid=b5018e97. Accessed 27 Mar. 2018

"Marie Curie." Scientists: Their Lives and Works, UXL, 2006. Research in Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K2641500044/MSIC?u=powa9245&sid=MSIC&xid=2d194f25. Accessed 26 Mar. 2018

"Women in Science." American Decades Primary Sources, edited by Cynthia Rose, vol. 3: 1920-1929, Gale, 2004, pp. 481-483. Biography In Context, https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3490200566/BIC?u=powa9245&sid=BIC&xid=b4c11196. Accessed 27 Mar. 2018