Science Meets Arts: Marie Curie

Marie Curie: The importance and significance of the esteemed and honoured figure

144 years ago last monday, Marie Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland. Later to win two Nobel Prizes in the separate fields of physics and chemistry for her work in radioactivity, she has been honoured with her vey own google doodle on the search engine’s home page, joining the great pantheon of revered scientists like Thomas Edison and Gregor Mendel.

A simultaneously inspiring and tragic figure, the 2009 New Scientist ‘most inspirational woman in science’ suffered the untimely death of her soul-mate and husband Pierre, and grieved his loss until her death from aplastic anaemia in 1934, a disease thought to be caused by her prolonged exposure to radioactive elements.

Portrayed on film by oscar nominated actresses, the life of Curie was last month given new vitality when Lauren Redniss’ Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout became the first nonfiction book to be named a finalist for the US National Book Award.

An esteemed and honoured figure, Marie Curie forever changed the landscape of science, and the perception of women in an erstwhile male dominated world.

Happy birthday, Madame Curie