#WomensHistoryMonth: Marie Curie — Guest Post by a Budding Historian

In Women’s History Month, I am writing about women from the past including inspiring women, controversial women, unheard of women, and everyday women. I am also taking the opportunity to support and lift up today and tomorrow’s women.

The following post was written by my 10-year-old niece, Tori, for her 4th grade class project about biographies. When she found out she was doing a biography project at school, she called me for ideas about who she should write about. She wanted to choose someone from history rather than a current figure, and she wanted to write about a woman. Granted, she knows I’m a historian and I’ve been pushing children’s books about women’s history on her since she before she could talk, so she probably said what she thought I wanted to hear.

But at any rate, I was thrilled. I went through several women and girls I thought she would find interesting and she settled on Marie Curie, the Nobel-prize winning scientist. As they worked on the project at school, she called me with updates. It was so much fun to hear how excited she was about what she was learning. Below, rendered just as she wrote it, is her paper. She got a 100 on it. I’m a very proud aunt. Hope you enjoy learning a bit more about the inspiring Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win two. 

Full text below for ease of reading. 

Maria Salomea Sklodowska also known as Marie Curie was born on November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland. Her parents Wtadystaw Sktodowski and Bronislaw Sklodowski were both teachers. She had four siblings three sisters and one brother. Marie was the top student high school which people called secondary school. She earned her Master’s Degree in physics in 1893. The following year she got another degree in mathematics. When Marie was ten years old her mother died of Tuberculosis, a disease that makes you cough up blood. To make matters worse her sister died in 1876.

Marie Curie accomplished many things! ln 1895, she married Pierre Curie. A couple of years later in 1897, she gave birth to her first of two children, Irene! Five years passed and in 1902 she starts to work with radium, a chemical element. A year later in 1903, she and her husband win a Nobel Prize with radioactivity and physics! Three years later, in 1906, a sad thing happened to Pierre Curie, he was in a traffic collision. He died on April 19, 1906. He was buried in Pantheon, Paris, France. Marie took his place in teaching. Later in 1911, she won another Nobel Prize, but this time for chemistry. ln 1922, she became a member of the French Academy. Ten years later, in 1932, Marie joins the fight for cancer. Marie Curie was a pioneer in the study of radiation!

Marie Curie discovered many things! Sadly, Marie Curie died on July 4, 1934 from aplastic anemia, a disease that mostly has to do with large amounts of radiation. She died of 66 years of age. She was buried in Pantheon, Paris, France. She is remembered for her discoveries that help us out every day. She discovered Radium and Polonium. Her discoveries helped change the world!