Although her collaborator, husband and father of two, Pierre Curie, treated her equally in the laboratory, in her private life all household duties fell to her. Maria Skłodowska-Curie married the scientist in 1895. In the morning, she usually rushed to the market to do some shopping before starting work in the laboratory. Initially, the spouses, living only on Piotr’s salary, had no money to hire a housekeeper. So Maria washed, cooked, made the beds and cleaned – after 8 hours of daily work on the samples.
The budget of 500 francs a month is not enough to pay for a servant, so you have to sweep the house, make the beds and cook … dinner and take care of your husband’s clothes. So Maria gets up at dawn to go to the market earlier (…)
– we read in Krystyna Leszczyńska’s publication. “In the evenings, on the way back with her husband, she does shopping: at the merchant’s, at the dairy. Early in the morning she peels vegetables, prepares meat for the morning meal” – it was written. However, in the author’s work, the words of one of the daughters of Maria and Piotr are also quoted. Eva Curie recalled that the mutual love of parents is best defined by the sentence that Peter wrote down five days before his death: “I work with my wife”.
“I felt nauseous from morning till evening”
The pregnancy forced Maria to temporarily give up her job in the laboratory. “I have been nauseous from morning to evening for over two months. I am tired and weak. Although I do not look bad at all, I feel unable to do any work,” she wrote in her diary.
On September 12, 1987, she gave birth to a daughter, Irena. She returned to work literally after a few weeks, but she was a very caring and caring mother. She was so busy that she had to hire a nanny. Despite this, she often jumped out of the lab and rushed over to her daughter to see if she was all right.
A discovery that changed the world
Although Maria had very clear priorities, at the same time she loved her children very much and cared for them. She was such a protective mother that her behavior annoyed Piotr. Her husband wanted her to devote herself to work as much as possible and did not understand why a young mother spends so much time with her newborn.
Their financial situation changed significantly in 1903. Then, together with her husband and Antoine Henri Becquerel, they received the Nobel Prize for their research on the phenomenon of radioactivity. The second Nobel Prize was awarded only to Maria, in 1911 – for the discovery of radium and polonium. This event changed the world once and for all. Thus, Maria became the first woman to receive this special award and at the same time the first person to be awarded this award twice. She also received her doctorate in France in 1903.
The second pregnancy meant that Maria’s health deteriorated significantly. She spent a few weeks before giving birth in bed. Eve Curie was born on December 6, 1904. Two years later, their family suffered a great tragedy – the sudden death of Pierre Curie as a result of an accident. As Krystyna Leszczyńska writes in her work, Maria decided to reject government financial support and ensure the well-being of her children on her own.
The romance that the whole country lived
Soon after, she became the first professor and lecturer at the French Sorbonne. The receipt of the second Nobel Prize in 1911 was preceded by a scandal revealed the year before. Marie Skłodowska-Curie’s affair with a married scientist, Paul Longevin, came to light. The whole of France was alive with the scandal and, unfortunately, it put a shadow on the timeless discovery of the scientist. The society was so agitated by the love letters published in the press by lovers (this happened thanks to Longevin’s wife) that Maria was repeatedly pressured to leave France.
This time, in the memories of her daughters, is referred to as the darkest period of the life of the outstanding scientist. Marie Skłodowska-Curie began to suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts. Psychiatric disorders were accompanied by anorexia. During this period, she was unable to take care of her daughters, who were looked after by a governess for a year and a half. The daughters, however, remained devoted to their mother until the end. The older of them, Irena, even followed in her footsteps – she became a physical chemist. In 1935, she and her husband also received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Ewa, on the other hand, devoted herself to art as a pianist and writer.
Sources: “Maria Skłodowska-Curie. Woman, Wife and mother” by Krystyna Leszczyńska/https://www.umcs.pl/pl/zyciorys-marii-curie-sklodowskiej/Maria Skłodowska-Curie and her daughters” by Shelley Emling/ ourhistoria.pl/sklodowskacurie-and-langevin-sex scandal-from-beginning-of-the-century
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
