In celebration of Women’s History month, I would like to honor a woman who made a huge impact on science and the medical field with her discoveries and contributions and was very much ahead of time. This person is Marie Curie.

Up until the early 1800s, women were unable to own property, have legal rights to their children, go to a university, earn equal wages or enter many professions. They had to turn any money they made over to their husbands and, of course, were unable to vote.

It was not until 1848 in both the United States and Europe that women finally won the long and arduous battle for equal rights. In Europe that year, a number of Western European countries added gender equality into their new constitutions as a result of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognized both gender equality and equality between spouses. It was not until 1920 in the United States and between the years of 1893 and 1960 when six European countries granted women the right to vote.

However, during the 1800s and well into the 1900s, other than working as nurses, midwives, and typists/stenographers and in domestic-type positions, women would not be taken seriously in many career paths or positions. Their main role was still seen as maintaining a household for their families. It was almost unheard of for a woman to become a doctor, lawyer or any other career that was male dominated. Except for the rare woman who was incredibly brilliant and strong willed, which brings me to the subject of this article.

Marie Curie:

Born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland, to poor parents with four siblings, her name was Maria Sklodowska (later Marie Curie). When very young, out of necessity, she became a governess, but she had a passion for knowledge, so she read and studied and learned all she could on her own aside from what she learned from her father, who was a teacher.

Given an opportunity to move to Paris, she entered Sorbonne University, where she learned physics and mathematics. In 1894, she met Pierre Curie, a professor at the School of Physics and a scientist. They were married in 1895, and she changed her first name to Marie, the French form of Maria.

Becoming researchers at the School of Chemistry and Physics in Paris, they began studying invisible rays given off by uranium, which had been recently discovered by another scientist, Henri Becquerel. During her research, Madame Curie was sure she had found a new element, which appeared extremely radioactive, but the other scientists were not convinced. Additional testing showed that the new element was 330 times more radioactive than uranium, and they called this polonium. Subsequent tests revealed another new element that was much more radioactive than polonium.

In 1898, the Curies published evidence of the discovery of this new element, which they called radium. Their work involved very strenuous, manual labor which, unbeknownst to them at the time, was also life-threatening. They became physically exhausted and sick, which today we recognize as the beginning of radiation sickness. In 1903, the Curies were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics jointly with Becquerel for their work on radioactivity.

Sadly, in 1906, Pierre was killed in a street accident. However, Marie continued her work, replacing her husband as professor at the Sorbonne and conducting lectures. She went on to be awarded another Nobel Prize in 1911 in Chemistry after creating a way of measuring radioactivity. Two laboratories were built by the Sorbonne, one of which was for the study of radioactivity led by Marie Curie.

During the First World War, Madame Curie developed small, mobile X-ray units to diagnose injuries near the battlefront and became director of the Red Cross Radiological Service. In October 1914, powerful X-ray machines named Petits Curies were completed. Madame Curie, together with her daughter, Irene, headed to the front line to take X-rays of wounded men to locate broken bones, bullets and shrapnel.

After the war, Marie continued to conduct research, teach and receive many more awards and honorary degrees from universities in many countries.

On July 4, 1934, Marie Curie died in Passy, France, at the age of 66. The cause of death was given as aplastic pernicious anaemia, which developed after years of exposure to radiation.

Through her brilliance, strength and perseverance, she has saved many, many lives over the years with the use of radiation both for diagnostic purposes and for shrinking tumors.

One of her many inspiring quotes is: You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for his own improvement. And at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.