Radioactive Curie
Marie Curie turned 144 yesterday. Well, at least she would have done had she still been alive. Google marked her life with a Google Doodle. A pioneering chemist and physicist of her time, Curie might not have lived the safest life since today, all of her papers and books are still radioactive even after a century has passed. Indeed, anyone who wants to view her manuscripts has to wear special protective clothing and sign a waiver of liability ahead of time. Although ahead of her time vis-à-vis chemistry and physics, she certainly didn’t have enough information on the dangers of radiation; it just wasn’t known back then and was what ultimately led to her death.
Nobel Prize Winner
Marie Curie won a Nobel Prize in physics in 1903 and another one in chemistry eight years later. She was born in Poland as Marie Sklodowska and then moved to Paris where she married Pierre Curie. It was she who increased information about radioactivity which also significantly advanced the use of X-Rays in surgery. During the First World War, she pushed for mobile radiography units to assist the wounded. Thus they were renamed Petites Curies (Little Curies). She passed away in 1934 from an aplastic anemia which resulted from her many years of exposure to radioactive materials.