Both Emmy Noether and Madame Curie cannot be so honored because the first rule of https://about.usps.com/who/csac/#criteria is that the subject has to be American or critical to American history.
Therefore an American citizen who is a physicist can be recognized for her contribution to physics, but a German or French citizen cannot be.
I would assume that someone like Lafayette could be on a stamp.
I'd expect the qualification would be, basically, would you expect to find this person in a book of US History (and not merely as a member of a foreign power, like, say, Churchill)? I think that this is probably a reasonable "you know it when you see it" situation, but I'm sure you could find edge-cases if that was your goal.
I doubt Marie Curie would say that she had anything to do with American history.
Winston Churchill's mother is American and he is also one of 8 people in history to be granted honorary American citizenship. Therefore he is American enough that a case can be made for putting him on a US stamp.
Lafayette would, of course, qualify on his own merits because he was directly important to US history. But in addition he is another of the 8 honorary US citizens in history.
I think you're reaching. Obviously every inventor or discoverer affects the course of history in every country that uses that invention or discovery. We could put Marconi on as "critical to American history" because we never might not have the war without the radio. Or put Martin Luther on, because without him a bunch of protestants wouldn't have crossed over on the Mayflower. Or Mendel because without the understanding of genetics, our GMO companies wouldn't be making billions.
The only mention in the United States in Marie Curie's Wikipedia article is a brief tour she did of the US in her later years to raise money.
Beware of confusing standing on the shoulders of giants and the one pulling the trigger. Might as well blame Isaac Newton for the bomb while you're at it.
Maybe a simple way to think about it is this: Curie was a Polish-French physicist, and so a collector would more expect her to be honored by a postage stamp issued by Poland or France... and indeed she has, more than once. I also see some Marie Curie stamps issued by French colonies, which was probably thought to contribute to the unity of the empire.
Emmy Noether moved to the US in 1933 in light of Nazi persecution and died in the US. I guess she never obtained citizenship in the 2-3 years she was there.
Comments
Both Emmy Noether and Madame Curie cannot be so honored because the first rule of https://about.usps.com/who/csac/#criteria is that the subject has to be American or critical to American history.
Therefore an American citizen who is a physicist can be recognized for her contribution to physics, but a German or French citizen cannot be.
From the link (and in the same rule):
What would qualify someone for that? And why would those two (Noether and Curie) not qualify?
I would assume that someone like Lafayette could be on a stamp.
I'd expect the qualification would be, basically, would you expect to find this person in a book of US History (and not merely as a member of a foreign power, like, say, Churchill)? I think that this is probably a reasonable "you know it when you see it" situation, but I'm sure you could find edge-cases if that was your goal.
I doubt Marie Curie would say that she had anything to do with American history.
You pick interesting examples.
Winston Churchill's mother is American and he is also one of 8 people in history to be granted honorary American citizenship. Therefore he is American enough that a case can be made for putting him on a US stamp.
Lafayette would, of course, qualify on his own merits because he was directly important to US history. But in addition he is another of the 8 honorary US citizens in history.
The full list of honorary citizens is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorary_citizenship_of_the_Un....
It is worth noting that Mother Theresa is also on that list and actually has a stamp. See https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2010/pb22290/html/inf....
Ha, my examples made up a quarter of the list, that's brilliant, I had no idea, thank you.
You don’t think Marie Curie has anything to do with the country that ran the Manhattan Project?
I think you're reaching. Obviously every inventor or discoverer affects the course of history in every country that uses that invention or discovery. We could put Marconi on as "critical to American history" because we never might not have the war without the radio. Or put Martin Luther on, because without him a bunch of protestants wouldn't have crossed over on the Mayflower. Or Mendel because without the understanding of genetics, our GMO companies wouldn't be making billions.
The only mention in the United States in Marie Curie's Wikipedia article is a brief tour she did of the US in her later years to raise money.
Beware of confusing standing on the shoulders of giants and the one pulling the trigger. Might as well blame Isaac Newton for the bomb while you're at it.
Maybe a simple way to think about it is this: Curie was a Polish-French physicist, and so a collector would more expect her to be honored by a postage stamp issued by Poland or France... and indeed she has, more than once. I also see some Marie Curie stamps issued by French colonies, which was probably thought to contribute to the unity of the empire.
Emmy Noether moved to the US in 1933 in light of Nazi persecution and died in the US. I guess she never obtained citizenship in the 2-3 years she was there.