Marie Curie named history’s most influential woman

All scientists know that Marie Curie was a hell of a woman, and now BBC History Magazine has confirmed it, with a recent poll of its readers naming her the most influential woman in history. Well deserved for a lady who revolutionised science.

Curie’s achievements are numerous, but she is famed for her discovery of two major elements – radium and polonium – which are key factors in the fight against cancer. She’s also the mastermind behind the coinage of the term “radioactivity”.

She is famed for her discovery of two major elements – radium and polonium – which are key factors in the fight against cancer

Marie Curie was just as much of a trailblazer in her recognition as she was in her scientific discoveries, becoming the first person ever to scoop two Nobel Prizes in different fields. Her first, awarded jointly alongside her husband Pierre in 1903, was a prize for physics given for her work on radioactivity and her second, awarded in 1911, was a prize for chemistry given for developing a way of measuring radioactivity.

To create the poll, ten experts were asked to put forward ten significant women from their field, before BBC History readers voted for the top 100. Civil rights activist Rosa Parks secured the second spot and suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst came third.

Marie Curie was just as much of a trailblazer in her recognition as she was in her scientific discoveries, becoming the first person ever to scoop two Nobel prizes in different fields

Curie was nominated by Patricia Fara, the president of the British Society for the History of Science. Explaining her choice, she stated: “She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in physics, first female professor at the University of Paris, and the first person – note the use of person there, not woman – to win a second Nobel Prize.”

She also emphasised that Curie overcame a disadvantaged start in life: “The odds were always stacked against her. In Poland, her patriotic family suffered under a Russian regime. In France, she was regarded with suspicion as a foreigner – and of course, wherever she went, she was discriminated against as a woman.”

She was regarded with suspicion as a foreigner – and of course, wherever she went, she was discriminated against as a woman

Sadly, in Curie’s era, the risks that radiation poses were unknown. This meant that her work with such radioactive elements was performed without any safety measures, leading to a life plagued by chronic-illness, and ultimately a death related to long-term radiation exposure.

However, she didn’t let death stop her from further successes. In 1995, 60 years after her death, she became the first woman to be interred on her own merits in the Panthéon Paris and her work continues to underpin scientific research, and save lives, today.