Our Inspiration
One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done." - Marie Curie (1867-1934). We all know Madame Curie for her discovery of Radium that won her a Nobel Prize. What most of us might not know is that she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only woman to win in two fields, Physics and Chemistry. She was also the first woman to become a professor at Sorbonne in France. Marie Curie studied Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at the university but pursued only Physics where she earned her degree. She was a brilliant student who was at the top of her class. Marie Curie, along with her husband, discovered Polonium, Radium. Polonium was named after Poland, Madame Curie's native country. Radium is derived from the Latin word Radius, which means ray; referring to the rays that were discovered by Marie Curie and her husband. They both coined the term 'radioactivity'. ??In 1903, together with her husband, she was awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics for their study on the spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of the Prize. At first, only Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel were nominated for the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics but after Pierre complained to the Academy, they rectified the mistake and included Marie. In 1911, she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, on recognition of her work in radioactivity. She received this Nobel Prize on her own. Marie Curie founded the Radium Institute in Poland, which today is The Maria Sklodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology, a major cancer research facility. Madame Curie's work led to the development of the x-ray machine, which revolutionized medical field.