Five Professional Lessons from Curie’s Scientific Career

May 1, 2020 by JoAnna 6 Comments

I’m re-blogging this interesting and brief biography of Marie Curie with the accompanying life lessons from “Five Lessons, Success Stories from Angsty Professionals.” Marie Curie persevered through significant challenges to become the first woman to ” win a Nobel Prize, the first female professor at the university of Paris, and the first laureate to win two prizes in two different sciences.”

Five Lessons

MARIA SALOMEA SKLODOWSKA, later dubbed Marie, was a Polish girl who was passionate about learning science. But as she passed high school with a gold medal, two obstacles stood in her way to higher education: first, university education for women was forbidden in Poland (occupied under the Russian Empire in late nineteenth century); secondly, her father—a teacher himself—though encouraged her academic interests, did not have enough money to support her education overseas.

Marie’s sister Bronya faced similar circumstances. Though Polish women were not permitted to join universities under the Tsar rulers, the Sklodowska sisters would never let go of their insistence that they deserved the same rights on education as their male counterparts. However, there was no easy way to achieve their ambitions. 

Having no apparent outlet for her scientific zeal, Marie decided to carry out her own higher education secretly. In the mornings, she would earn her living…

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