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Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. (Credit: Getty Images) (ychef.files.bbci.co.uk)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Raisin8659@monyet.cc to c/pics@lemmy.world

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from: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230907-the-fear-of-a-nuclear-fire-that-would-consume-earth

Marie Curie's revelations about radioactivity in the early 1900s helped change the course of human history.

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Scientific instruments in the 1900's are as inscrutable as the scientific instruments now. Definitely not your basic chemistry set.

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[-] Chriszz@lemmy.world 49 points 1 year ago

I believe her notes are still radioactive to this day and one must wear protection to handle them

[-] Hyggyldy@sffa.community 17 points 1 year ago

I do hear she had quite the radiant personality.

[-] LongbottomLeaf@lemmy.nz 7 points 1 year ago

Plus basically everywhere in that lab she laid hands.

[-] BestBouclettes@jlai.lu 5 points 1 year ago

So are her remains I believe. Her tomb in the Pantheon is lined with lead.

[-] bukkat@artemis.camp 13 points 1 year ago

Obligatory historical note: her full name was Maria Skłodowska-Curie. She was Polish and proud of it. The first element she discovered she named polonium in honor of her country (which had been broken up and annexed by Russia, Austria, and Prussia). Go to Poland and Poles will be sure to let you know. They view it as a matter of stolen intellectual valor, practically.

[-] joneskind@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Stolen valor? Why? She was born Polish but adopted French nationality when she married Pierre Curie.

Furthermore, in France administrative papers, wife’s birth name are always mentioned. Marie Curie née Skłodowska.

Finally, not a single French ignores she was born Polish, and we got a huge community of Polish descendants in France.

[-] bukkat@artemis.camp 3 points 1 year ago

Not trying to start an argument, friend. I was trying to relate my observation of how many Poles emphatically do not want Skłodowska-Curie’s Polish heritage to be overlooked or forgotten.

I think it comes down to her maiden name being omitted broadly in the public. For example, look at the title of the post—it is the French version of her name. I’m not laying any blame on OP, however. My science classes all the way through high school never gave her full, hyphenated surname. I had assumed she was French until I was taught otherwise by Poles.

I’m glad you already knew. Good on you!

[-] BustinJiber@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

No, we are not.

[-] Scrof@sopuli.xyz 13 points 1 year ago

What a lass.

[-] CapnAssHolo@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago

Could she be the only Nobel prize winner whose children went on to win a Nobel prize too?

[-] Raisin8659@monyet.cc 6 points 1 year ago

I think there have been a few more. William Henry Bragg & his son Lawrence Bragg. Niels Bohr & his son Aage Bohr. And more...

[-] dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

She was amazing in the real sense of that word.

[-] MissJinx@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So much so that she was respected by male scientists in a era that women were still considered inferior and couldn't even vote in most places. The STEAM areas are still a chalenge for woman to this day, imagine how much of a boss you would have to be on the 1800 early 1900

[-] ChrisLicht@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

I don’t think that last statement is correct. IIRC, several people have subsequently gotten Nobels in multiple disciplines.

[-] Raisin8659@monyet.cc 17 points 1 year ago

Yes, there have been. They won in the same fields twice, different fields twice, but looks like none except Marie Curie that won in two different scientific fields.