Marie Curie: The Alchemist in the Atomic Age

In 1867, a small girl from Warsaw, Poland was born into a family of educators. But little did she know that she would have a tremendous impact on the lives of many.

Her family struggled under an ongoing repressive Tsarist regime. Things changed for her family when she turned 10. Her mother died, and her father lost his job.

Her name was Marie Curie.

Maria graduated from high school with top grades and she didn't stop there.

She completely disregarded about the prejudices against women.

Making a pact with her sister Bronya is just an example of her relentless will to study. According to the pact she would support Bronya while she was in medical school in Paris, and then Bronya would pay Curie’s way.

She chose to study at the University of Paris — the Sorbonne — where she would be free to learn from many of the era's leading thinkers.

From the age of 17, she worked as a governess and tutor until the age of 24. She decided to do her thesis on radiation, recently discovered in uranium by Henri Becquerel. Soon she was the first woman in France to earn her Ph.D.

"Her groundbreaking work in physics and chemistry led her to become the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, one in Physics in 1903 and another in Chemistry in 1911, for her discoveries in radioactivity."

She didn't restrict her findings to the laboratory. During the first World War, she designed radiology cars bringing X-ray machines to hospitals for soldiers wounded in battle.

In the last two years of the war, her findings saved millions of lives. Unfortunately, the discoveries she made had taken a toll on her health.

Constantly ill from radiation sickness, she died from aplastic anemia in 1934, at age 66.

One thing that we all can learn from Marie, is to embrace the unknown, not fear it.