January 16, 2009

Listening Essay

Madam Marie Curie was born in the mid-1860’s and was of Polish decent, but had a French citizenship. Marie Curie was born Maira Skłodowska in the Russian Empire. She helped set the road for women’s rights. In my opinion, her accomplishments significantly helped the cause of women’s rights.

In 1893 she became the first women to secure a degree in physics at the University of Paris. She was one of two women in a class of one thousand. She later became the first female professor at that same university. She also came close to securing a position in the French Academy of Sciences, but sadly she failed.

Marie Curie was the first woman to win not only one, but two Nobel Prizes. She was the first person to win or share two Nobel Prizes and she was one of only two people who have been awarded a Nobel Prize in two different fields. She was awarded the first in 1903 for her contribution to the discovery of radioactivity. She won the second in 1911 for the isolation of radium and discovery of podium.

Her greatest accomplishment was the discovery of radium. However, her greatest accomplishment ending up being the cause of her demise. Marie Curie died of radiation poisoning at the age of sixty–seven. However, her death, among other deaths, brought on the knowledge of the damaging, if not fatal effects radiation could have. Albert Einstein is noted for saying the Madam Curie was probably the only person who was not corrupted by the fame that she had won. Which was true, as most of the money she and her husband made was donated to the advancement of science. In my opinion, that is her greatest accomplishment was her ability to not be infected with the greed most famous people contract.