25/02/2025
The tomb of Marie Curie is lined with inch-thick lead to shield visitors from the radiation coming from her remains.
Curie, a French-Polish scientist, made history as the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win in two different sciences — physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911.
Despite being barred from higher education due to her s*x, Curie pursued her studies at the clandestine "Flying University," where she laid the foundation for her revolutionary discoveries of radium, polonium, and the concept of radioactivity.
Sadly, Curie’s pioneering work came at a great cost.
She unknowingly exposed herself to lethal doses of radiation. She often carried radium in her pockets, studied it tirelessly in her lab, and even admired its glow at night. She succumbed to aplastic anemia in 1934, a condition linked to her exposure. Today, her body and personal belongings remain radioactive and are expected to stay so for another 1,500 years, a lasting testament to her profound impact on science.
Image: The Panthéon, France
