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Marie Curie can be an example in many areas: in the way she worked and lived, in how she worked with her husband and how she took care of her daughters. An example would be her perseverance, the way she worked her way through the concrete beliefs of the scientific world, helping by her example all the women scientists who came after her. An example would be her dedication to her cause, which eventually led to her dying of leukemia. This woman admires not so much what she did, but how.
How often does a society in its blinkeredness not recognize geniuses just because they are unusual and do not fit into the generally accepted framework? Marie Curie had to break through the narrow-mindedness of the patriarchal scientific world - society could hardly accept the fact that great scientific discoveries belong to a woman, and not to some old pundit. 79 years have passed since the death of this amazing woman, and her example still continues to inspire scientists.
Here are some lessons to be learned from her biography and the traits that helped her make her way into the history of science:
Ability to deal with haters
As we know, haters can appear for various reasons: someone is furious that you do not fit into the framework of his morality, someone is simply jealous. It's always frustrating, but strong people know how to deal with it.
Curie went against one of the most powerful institutions filled with envious people and bigots: the patriarchal world of science. When she arrived in the States in May 1921, President Warren Harding gave her a stupid compliment that fully expressed his attitude towards women: “We are all at your feet. All generations of men would like to award the Nobel Prize to a woman, a devoted wife and a caring mother. " It would never have occurred to him to praise a male scientist for his excellent qualities as a family man, although many scientists have a family.
In the days of Curie, women were considered too sentimental for pursuing science, but when journalists asked her about such rumors, Madame Curie replied: "We need to be less interested in people and more in ideas" or "In science, we should be interested in deeds, not individuals."
We need to be less interested in people and more in ideas.
Maria Curie
It's a great way to deal with this kind of drama: do your thing and ignore people.
Ability to devote oneself to the cause
Maria was born in Warsaw in 1867 and was devoted to science from the very beginning. In her youth, Curie graduated from the women's higher courses at the Flying University, an underground organization that existed in Poland. Maria's father barely fed his five children, and simply could not pay for his daughters' education. Then Maria and Bronislava agreed to earn money on their own and pay each other's tuition in turn.
After Maria earned money to study Bronislava, and her sister received a medical education, she, in turn, helped Maria enter the Sorbonne. At 24, the girl brilliantly passed the exams and began to study physics, chemistry and other sciences at the famous Parisian university.
She was completely immersed in the study of French and mathematics, and barely made ends meet, working part-time in the university laboratory. At that time, she ate so poorly that sometimes she just collapsed from weakness, but her main passion was science. As a result, she received her Ph.D. in physics in 1892 and another in mathematics the following year.
This is another lesson from the great woman: persistence breeds success.
Find a good partner
Our family and friends heal and support us. Maria Skladovskaya found her partner - Pierre Curie. This scientist invited her to go through life together, fascinated by her dream, which gave so much to humanity and science.
Maria and Pierre together conducted experiments that led to great discoveries in science, together they renounced the patent for open substances, giving them to the use of all mankind, and who knows how their fate would have developed if they had not supported each other in scientific research ...
Take notes
Even dull ink is better than good memory.
Chinese proverb
Marie Curie constantly kept different journals: she wrote down her own problems and questions in a personal journal, the development of her children was recorded in another journal, and after her husband died in 1906, she wrote in a funeral journal. By the way, all these journals have survived and they are still radioactive (Maria worked with radioactive substances, but at that time the harm from radiation was not established).
Flip the paradigm
Curie not only challenged the patriarchal scientific paradigm that existed in her time, but also made a real revolution in science.
After studying uranium for a long time, she suggested that the radioactivity of this element depends to a large extent on another substance, which is part of uranium and thorium, and discovered a new chemical element, which was named radium. Its existence was proved only in 1910, when Marie Curie and André Debierne succeeded in isolating pure radium as a metal, and not as a compound. Later, another element was discovered - polonium.
Thanks to Marie Curie, a giant leap forward in science was made, in addition, she helped to implement her discoveries in radiology (medicine).
With her discoveries, Maria destroyed not only the paradigm of chemistry, but also the paradigm of gender dynamics in science, so that the scientific world after her will never be the same.
How often does a society in its blinkeredness not recognize geniuses just because they are unusual and do not fit into the generally accepted framework? Marie Curie had to break through the narrow-mindedness of the patriarchal scientific world - society could hardly accept the fact that great scientific discoveries belong to a woman, and not to some old pundit. 79 years have passed since the death of this amazing woman, and her example still continues to inspire scientists.
Here are some lessons to be learned from her biography and the traits that helped her make her way into the history of science:
Ability to deal with haters
As we know, haters can appear for various reasons: someone is furious that you do not fit into the framework of his morality, someone is simply jealous. It's always frustrating, but strong people know how to deal with it.
Curie went against one of the most powerful institutions filled with envious people and bigots: the patriarchal world of science. When she arrived in the States in May 1921, President Warren Harding gave her a stupid compliment that fully expressed his attitude towards women: “We are all at your feet. All generations of men would like to award the Nobel Prize to a woman, a devoted wife and a caring mother. " It would never have occurred to him to praise a male scientist for his excellent qualities as a family man, although many scientists have a family.
In the days of Curie, women were considered too sentimental for pursuing science, but when journalists asked her about such rumors, Madame Curie replied: "We need to be less interested in people and more in ideas" or "In science, we should be interested in deeds, not individuals."
We need to be less interested in people and more in ideas.
Maria Curie
It's a great way to deal with this kind of drama: do your thing and ignore people.
Ability to devote oneself to the cause
Maria was born in Warsaw in 1867 and was devoted to science from the very beginning. In her youth, Curie graduated from the women's higher courses at the Flying University, an underground organization that existed in Poland. Maria's father barely fed his five children, and simply could not pay for his daughters' education. Then Maria and Bronislava agreed to earn money on their own and pay each other's tuition in turn.
After Maria earned money to study Bronislava, and her sister received a medical education, she, in turn, helped Maria enter the Sorbonne. At 24, the girl brilliantly passed the exams and began to study physics, chemistry and other sciences at the famous Parisian university.
She was completely immersed in the study of French and mathematics, and barely made ends meet, working part-time in the university laboratory. At that time, she ate so poorly that sometimes she just collapsed from weakness, but her main passion was science. As a result, she received her Ph.D. in physics in 1892 and another in mathematics the following year.
This is another lesson from the great woman: persistence breeds success.
Find a good partner
Our family and friends heal and support us. Maria Skladovskaya found her partner - Pierre Curie. This scientist invited her to go through life together, fascinated by her dream, which gave so much to humanity and science.
Maria and Pierre together conducted experiments that led to great discoveries in science, together they renounced the patent for open substances, giving them to the use of all mankind, and who knows how their fate would have developed if they had not supported each other in scientific research ...
Take notes
Even dull ink is better than good memory.
Chinese proverb
Marie Curie constantly kept different journals: she wrote down her own problems and questions in a personal journal, the development of her children was recorded in another journal, and after her husband died in 1906, she wrote in a funeral journal. By the way, all these journals have survived and they are still radioactive (Maria worked with radioactive substances, but at that time the harm from radiation was not established).
Flip the paradigm
Curie not only challenged the patriarchal scientific paradigm that existed in her time, but also made a real revolution in science.
After studying uranium for a long time, she suggested that the radioactivity of this element depends to a large extent on another substance, which is part of uranium and thorium, and discovered a new chemical element, which was named radium. Its existence was proved only in 1910, when Marie Curie and André Debierne succeeded in isolating pure radium as a metal, and not as a compound. Later, another element was discovered - polonium.
Thanks to Marie Curie, a giant leap forward in science was made, in addition, she helped to implement her discoveries in radiology (medicine).
With her discoveries, Maria destroyed not only the paradigm of chemistry, but also the paradigm of gender dynamics in science, so that the scientific world after her will never be the same.
