Marie Curie Week!

This week, Google had doodled Marie Curie on her birthday (Nov 7th), so I thought I would pay hommage to the great scientist, pioneering woman, and alumni to my institution, Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles (ESPCI).

Jeff Nye in front of the historical plaque at ESPCI.  The plaque translates to: "In 1898, in a laboratory in this school, Pierre and Marie CURIE, assisted by Gustave BEMONT, discovered Radium."

Similar to my alma matar, UC Berkeley, ESPCI has contributed to the discovery of many elements and is associated with a handful of Nobel Prize-winning scientists.  Although on a much smaller scale (5 Nobel Laureates instead of 22) and there is no element "ESPCI-ium"... but to be fair, ESPCI is MUCH smaller, admitting less than 100 students per year.  But it was here that one of the most influential women in science history, Marie Curie, and her husband Pierre, discovered radium.  Above is a picture of my friend, Jeff Nye, posing in front of the plaque at my institution and below is a picture of the plaque in front of the laboratory on campus.

Plaque reads: "Location of the laboratory where Pierre and Marie CURIE discovered radium in October 1898."

I don't have to tell you that Marie Curie's work was impressive, but I will anyways.  She was an accomplished scientist first and an accomplished woman second; she broke barriers in the realms of chemistry, physics and gender roles in science.  She was the first WOMAN to be awarded the Nobel Prize and to become a professor at La Sorbonne.  But she was the first PERSON to win 2 Nobel Prizes, and one of the only two people to have 2 Nobel Prizes in different fields.  Her first prize was in Physics for her work on radiation and her second was in Chemistry for discovery and study of the elements polonium and radium.  But you know you are badass when you have an element named after yourself.  Her and her husband were immortalized as element number 96, Curium, which, incidentally, was discovered by Glenn T. Seaborg at UC Berkeley.