Marie Curie is responsible for developing the theory of
radioactivity, which is a term she also coined. She was the first woman
to win a Nobel Prize (1903) and the first and only woman to win twice in
multiple sciences.
Her parents were poor teachers, and after the Russian authorities
removed laboratory instruction in the sciences from schools, her father
pilfered the leftover lab equipment, brought it home, and let his
children use it freely. Curie was an intelligent and curious child,
largely self-taught, and because she couldn’t go to University because
of her sex, she studied clandestinely at what was called a “Floating
University,” a secret set of informal, underground classes held in
Warsaw.
Marie Curie died of the effects of radiation exposure. She had been
used to carrying test tubes filled with radioactive material in her lab
pockets. Because of the high levels of radioactive contamination, her
papers from the 1890s are too dangerous to examine. Even her cookbooks
are considered contaminated. Marie Curie’s research is kept in
lead-lined boxes.
From The Writer's Almanac, Garrison Keillor, November 12, 2016
