If asked, how many influential scientists from the past and present can you name? How would you do? How many that you could name are female?
Throughout this session these regular blog posts will help us learn a little more about the well known and not so well known women who have been pioneering in the field of STEM.
Marie Curie is probably one of the more well known female scientists, here are some facts about her.
Occupation: Scientist
Born: November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland
Died: July 4, 1934 in Passy, Haute-Savoie, France
Best known for: Her work in radioactivity
Nobel Prizes : In 1903, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marie and Pierre Curie as well as Henri Becquerel for their work in radiation. Marie became the first woman to be awarded the prize. In 1911 Marie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the two elements, polonium and radium. She was the first person to be awarded two Nobel Prizes. Marie became very famous. Scientists came from around the world to study radioactivity with Marie. Soon doctors found that radiology could help with curing cancer.
Death : Marie died on July 4, 1934. She died from overexposure to radiation, both from her experiments and from her work with X-ray machines. Today there are lots of safety measures to keep scientists from getting overexposed to the rays.
If you know of a female scientist that we could highlight in these posts write a reply here and we will include your suggestions in future posts.
