Thursday, January 25, 2024

DK Life Stories Marie Curie by Nell Walker


 This DK Life Stories series brings biographies for middle grade.


Marie Curie (1867-1934) was born in Poland into family where father encouraged education for girls. He was a man of science and the box of scientific equipment he brought home had a great influence on Maria. She was instantly attracted to the glass tubes, beakers, and flasks.

She lived during the time when Warsaw was under Russian rule. They banned education for women. The teachers took matters into their own hands and created secret classes and called it Floating University as they had to keep moving from one place to another in order not to be caught.

This limited education wasn’t enough for such mind as Maria’s. She figured out a way to attend Sorbonne University in Paris. There, through a Polish professor, she met Pierre Curie who was an experienced scientist and had his own lab. Marie was in need of such lab. Pierre made it possible for her.

They shared their goals, interest, and intellect, and together made many discoveries.

Her story involves her whole life. It also mentions her daughters, awards, involvement during WWI.

This biography is written with simple language and descriptions that is age appropriate. However, there is a part with her research when all those scientific names and materials are presented, and I wonder if that might be a bit overwhelming for young readers.

Published in 2022 by Publisher: DK Children




TRENDING INSPIRATION: Go Outside Your Comfort Zone

Going outside comfort zone is scary, but rewards might be much bigger to miss it. Time wasn’t on her side where she was born. As a woman growing up in Poland, education was very limited for women. She went out of her comfort zone and travelled to another country to get an education she believed in. She went on to win many awards. One of them, the most prized was the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903.


Traits:

·         She grew up in an environment where education for girls was encouraged

·         Her father’s scientific equipment he brought home had a great influence on her

·         When Poland was under Russian occupation, education for women was forbidden, she stepped outside her comfort zone and travelled to a different country that allowed education for women

·         When she met her husband, they shared their goals, interest, and intellect, and together made many discoveries


"Knowledge is like a sphere: the greater its volume, the larger its contact with the unknown." - Blaise Pascal

“We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.” – Marie Curie

“Nothing is life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.” – Marie Curie



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