Marie Curie, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry: “I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy”

She went down in history as the “mother of modern physics,” and it was her own research that ultimately led to her death. Marie Curie’s life was marked by two Nobel Prizes, a love rooted in science, and a constant struggle against sexism in education and research.

Her story begins in Warsaw in 1867, where she was born Maria Salomea Skłodowska. At just 15 years old, she tried to enroll at the University of Warsaw, but regulations that barred women stood as a wall between her and her ambitions. With no way to gain admission, Maria turned to the so-called “Flying University,” a clandestine institution open to women.

It was a pact between two sisters, Maria and her sister, that made it possible for both of them to earn degrees, one in physics and the other in medicine. They shared their earnings to cover each other’s education, building a path for themselves in science.

After enrolling at the University of Paris, Marie met Pierre Curie, who would become her partner in both life and science. Beginning in 1897, the couple launched a joint investigation that included uranium-bearing minerals such as pitchblende, autunite, and torbernite. Without a proper laboratory, they worked in a poorly ventilated shed near the School of Physics and Chemistry, unaware of the harmful effects they were being exposed to.

Professor at the University of Paris

Their joint research led to the discovery of a new element they named polonium, in honor of Marie’s homeland, and later a second element, radium. As a result, both were nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics, with Marie becoming the first woman to receive the award in that category.

Her life was far from easy. The death of her husband in a carriage accident in Paris led to a period of deep depression, worsened by the harmful effects of prolonged exposure to radium in a poorly ventilated workspace.

Even so, these hardships did not stop her. She chose to continue her husband’s research and accepted an offer from the University of Paris to take over his position as a professor.

In recognition of her achievements, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. In 1934, the world said goodbye to a woman who had to fight for her place in the field of physics and who sacrificed everything for her love of science.

As she once said, “I was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy.” Her work secured her legacy as the mother of modern physics, but the journey was marked by many obstacles and setbacks along the way.

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