Marie Curie Part 1

Today let’s talk about Marie Curie. Growing up in Warsaw in Russian occupied Poland lived young Marie, originally named Maria Sklowska, was a brilliant student. But she had to face some challenging barriers as a woman, she was bared from perusing higher education so in an act of defiance Marie enrolled in the floating university, a secret institution that provided clandestine education to Poland youth. By saving money and working as a governess, and tutor she eventually was able to move to Paris, to study at the reputed Sorbonne. There Marie earned both her physics, and mathematics degree surviving mostly on bread and tea, and sometimes fainting from near starvation. In Paris Marie met the physicist Pierre Curie who shared his lab, and his heart with her, but she need to be back to Poland. Upon her return to Warsaw she found that securing a academic position as a woman, thou remained a challenge. I will continue this story at my next blog post.