Curie College

Over the past two modules our students have been working hard to decide who should be our new college figurehead. They worked in groups during tutor time to research individuals and present who they thought would be the best individuals to represent our college. We were really impressed by the presentations of a variety of figures, including David Attenborough, Maya Angelou, Ada Lovelace and Alan Turing, but after considering all of the candidates, it was decided that our figurehead would be Marie Curie.

Marie Curie was a Polish born and was the first woman to win a noble prize in 1903 and she went on to win another in 1911.

Marie Curie was open minded, listening to the ideas of others to help her develop her work on radiation. She was a risk-taker, carrying out many experiments with radioactive elements to develop stronger x-rays. Working with these materials made her sick and led to her death in 1934 and knowledgeable, discovering polonium and radium.

Marie Curie was balanced, continuing to work while also having a husband and two daughters. She was caring, during World War One she created mobile x-ray units and trained women to operate them, to help soldiers who were injured in battle. She was reflective, looking back at her discoveries and seeing what she could do to further develop them.

Marie Curie was a thinker, taking what she knew and applying it to allow her to make new discoveries and she was principled, spending time working as a teacher to pay for her sister to go to university.