Marie Curie is undeniably one of the greatest female role-figures in science of the last century. I don't know why she isn't more revered, although perhaps are here are a few reasons why: (Note: I bring them up mostly in hopes of pointing out how silly they are)
1. Her work eventually killed her. There was no way for the Curies to know what effect long-term radiation exposure would have, but it's still not a huge image booster for her to have died from material handling practices that would be considered idiotic today.
2. She wasn't a "lone wolf". i.e. She did much of her work with her husband Pierre, who shared the Nobel Prize for physics with her. Pierre was an instructor when they met and undoubtedly gave her a huge helping hand right when she needed it. Never mind that she came from a poor background and showed remarkable determination just getting into college in the first place, or that she would later be the sole recipient of a Nobel prize for chemistry!
3. People are still scared of words like "radioactive" and "radiation". Just look at how comfortable people are with coal power that kills thousands every year as a part of normal operation. Then note how those same people freak out when a nuclear plant threatens to give a handful of people cancer, but only after being horribly mismanaged and then hit by an improbable sequence of natural disasters! Arguably, Curie is scary by her association with something people are unreasonably paranoid about.
4. Let's face it, Ada Lovelace was a bit of a looker, or at least she was painted that way. She even had a sexy sounding name. We have real, unromantic photographs of Curie on the other hand the reveal her to be rather plain by comparison, plus her name is now linked with a scary unit of radioactive decay! It's a case of the Belle vs the school-marm.
My 7th-grade daughter just did a report on Marie Curie for school. She was fascinated by the subject, and amazed to find how useful and important her research was. I wanted to go to her laboratory/museum in Paris when we were there several summers ago, but it was unfortunately closed.
Bottom line, Marie Curie is a great role model, and while I don't think that my daughter is headed for a career in science or engineering, at least she now sees that there are women who did it, and did amazing things in the field.
I also posit that, were it not for the "rockstar" image that computing has acquired in the last 30 years or so, this Ada Lovelace thing wouldn't have catapulted like this as well.
4. Let's face it, Ada Lovelace was a bit of a looker, or at least she was painted that way. She even had a sexy sounding name. We have real, unromantic photographs of Curie on the other hand the reveal her to be rather plain by comparison, plus her name is now linked with a scary unit of radioactive decay! It's a case of the Belle vs the school-marm.
We should fight this attitude. Women have a history of being judged solely on their looks, and that is wrong. Everyone should be judged on their merits.
Everybody is judged by their looks. Einstein is famously nerdy-looking - we celebrate that. I enjoy the photographs of Curie - words like formidable, determined spring to mind.
By the way, Einstein as a absent-minded scientist is a misconception and a product of FBI propaganda. He lived in the era of McCarthy. There were hotels with signs "Dogs and Jews not allowed". Einstein's file in FBI was over 800 pages, they were trying so hard to find an excuse to bust him. Einstein was active in politics and even believed it is his duty as a famous person to promote humanitarian ideas like racial equality. He was painted as a reclusive, harmless nerd by FBI in an attempt to reduce his influence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein%27s_political_v...
"When I was young, I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in the sock," he once said. "So I stopped wearing socks."
He was very bright in many ways, but wasn't perfect. For example he didn't care much for gender equality. Women could just stay in the kitchen as far as he was concerned.
I don't think your conclusion follows. An analogous proposition would be "Steve Jobs was a careless slob with no sense of style because he wore jeans to his presentations". It's possible that Einstein chose to look exactly the way he did. Or he just didn't care. Not knowing more about Einstein, I couldn't say.
(a) Just because a thing happens doesn't mean that it's right that a thing happens. "Hey murder happens" is not a acceptable response when someone points out that murder is wrong.
(b) Women are often judged much more on their sexual/beauty looks, compared to men. Can you find an instance of a beauty/sexual attractiveness of a male scientist being mentioned?
Curie is a figurehead of the nuclear era, while Lovelace's importance is seen to be in the genesis of the computer era. Even ignoring the "nuclear == icky" aspect, people (likely rightly) associate computers with something that is more important in their own lives.
Comments
Marie Curie is undeniably one of the greatest female role-figures in science of the last century. I don't know why she isn't more revered, although perhaps are here are a few reasons why: (Note: I bring them up mostly in hopes of pointing out how silly they are)
1. Her work eventually killed her. There was no way for the Curies to know what effect long-term radiation exposure would have, but it's still not a huge image booster for her to have died from material handling practices that would be considered idiotic today.
2. She wasn't a "lone wolf". i.e. She did much of her work with her husband Pierre, who shared the Nobel Prize for physics with her. Pierre was an instructor when they met and undoubtedly gave her a huge helping hand right when she needed it. Never mind that she came from a poor background and showed remarkable determination just getting into college in the first place, or that she would later be the sole recipient of a Nobel prize for chemistry!
3. People are still scared of words like "radioactive" and "radiation". Just look at how comfortable people are with coal power that kills thousands every year as a part of normal operation. Then note how those same people freak out when a nuclear plant threatens to give a handful of people cancer, but only after being horribly mismanaged and then hit by an improbable sequence of natural disasters! Arguably, Curie is scary by her association with something people are unreasonably paranoid about.
4. Let's face it, Ada Lovelace was a bit of a looker, or at least she was painted that way. She even had a sexy sounding name. We have real, unromantic photographs of Curie on the other hand the reveal her to be rather plain by comparison, plus her name is now linked with a scary unit of radioactive decay! It's a case of the Belle vs the school-marm.
Not sure about in US, but I'm pretty sure majority of kids in this part of the world knows who Marie Curie is than Ada Lovelace.
Ada Lovelace is celebrated among us the computer geeks, because she's the female icon for the field.
I learned of Marie Curie in school (~30yrs ago US). Never heard of Ada Lovelace until much later.
And http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper way, way more awesome than Ada. Length of nanosecond http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEpsKnWZrJ8
My 7th-grade daughter just did a report on Marie Curie for school. She was fascinated by the subject, and amazed to find how useful and important her research was. I wanted to go to her laboratory/museum in Paris when we were there several summers ago, but it was unfortunately closed.
Bottom line, Marie Curie is a great role model, and while I don't think that my daughter is headed for a career in science or engineering, at least she now sees that there are women who did it, and did amazing things in the field.
+1 for that point..
I also posit that, were it not for the "rockstar" image that computing has acquired in the last 30 years or so, this Ada Lovelace thing wouldn't have catapulted like this as well.
4. Let's face it, Ada Lovelace was a bit of a looker, or at least she was painted that way. She even had a sexy sounding name. We have real, unromantic photographs of Curie on the other hand the reveal her to be rather plain by comparison, plus her name is now linked with a scary unit of radioactive decay! It's a case of the Belle vs the school-marm.
We should fight this attitude. Women have a history of being judged solely on their looks, and that is wrong. Everyone should be judged on their merits.
Everybody is judged by their looks. Einstein is famously nerdy-looking - we celebrate that. I enjoy the photographs of Curie - words like formidable, determined spring to mind.
By the way, Einstein as a absent-minded scientist is a misconception and a product of FBI propaganda. He lived in the era of McCarthy. There were hotels with signs "Dogs and Jews not allowed". Einstein's file in FBI was over 800 pages, they were trying so hard to find an excuse to bust him. Einstein was active in politics and even believed it is his duty as a famous person to promote humanitarian ideas like racial equality. He was painted as a reclusive, harmless nerd by FBI in an attempt to reduce his influence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein%27s_political_v...
He didn't wear socks or attend to his appearance. That's not made-up is it?
"When I was young, I found out that the big toe always ends up making a hole in the sock," he once said. "So I stopped wearing socks."
He was very bright in many ways, but wasn't perfect. For example he didn't care much for gender equality. Women could just stay in the kitchen as far as he was concerned.
Yet he married such amazing women, each talented in their own way.
I don't think your conclusion follows. An analogous proposition would be "Steve Jobs was a careless slob with no sense of style because he wore jeans to his presentations". It's possible that Einstein chose to look exactly the way he did. Or he just didn't care. Not knowing more about Einstein, I couldn't say.
What conclusion? That he was nerdy-looking? That's just an observation.
Irrelevant.
(a) Just because a thing happens doesn't mean that it's right that a thing happens. "Hey murder happens" is not a acceptable response when someone points out that murder is wrong.
(b) Women are often judged much more on their sexual/beauty looks, compared to men. Can you find an instance of a beauty/sexual attractiveness of a male scientist being mentioned?
> handling practices
especially when compared to Röntgen who used lead to isolate him some time before her http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Röntgen
Here is a #5
Curie is a figurehead of the nuclear era, while Lovelace's importance is seen to be in the genesis of the computer era. Even ignoring the "nuclear == icky" aspect, people (likely rightly) associate computers with something that is more important in their own lives.