Women in Science: The extraordinary Life of Marie Curie (1867-1934)

Abstract

This paper highlights the main contributions of the research work of Marie Curie (1867-1934); she won the Nobel Prize in 1903 in the field of physics along with her husband Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel; after, in 1911 she obtained her second Nobel Prize in chemistry individually. She was born in Poland, where she as a woman could not access a university education and went to study at the Sorbonne in Paris, where she became the first woman to obtain a doctorate. She found a life partner related to her research topics with whom she first worked together to discover radioactivity. She later became involved in the First World War, inventing mobile ambulances with portable X-rays that were able to save the lives of hundreds of wounded. The last years of her life continued to be dedicated to applied research in the field of medicine, teaching and directing the institutions that were created in her name. Through her life, she aims to show the falsity of the traditional assertion that men are naturally superior to women. With the extraordinary example of Marie Curie –along with many other cases of women scientists in history– it is shown that both genders can achieve great goals in science through education, dedication and disciplined effort in the development of their abilities.