Marie Curie: A pioneering life
The extraordinary life of the Polish scientist who changed the course of physics.
The Polish physicist and chemist Marie Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize, and the first person to be awarded twice in two different fields. Her discoveries in the field of radioactivity – adding polonium and radium to the table of elements – changed the course of scientific history and led to huge advances in the treatment of cancer.
Quentin Cooper traces Marie Curie’s extraordinary life story with Patricia Fara, president of the British Society for the History of Science; Maciej Dunajski, mathematician and theoretical physicist at Cambridge University; and Susan Quinn, author of Marie Curie: A Life.
(Photo: Marie Curie. Credit: Hulton Archive/ Getty Images)
Last on
More episodes
Clip
![]()
The love affair that scandalised the Nobel committee
Duration: 00:40
Broadcasts
- Mon 13 Mar 201702:06GMTBBC World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, Australasia & News Internet
- Mon 13 Mar 201704:06GMTBBC World Service Australasia
- Mon 13 Mar 201705:06GMTBBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Tue 14 Mar 201709:06GMTBBC World Service except Americas and the Caribbean & News Internet
- Tue 14 Mar 201712:06GMTBBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean
- Tue 14 Mar 201723:06GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
- Wed 15 Mar 201702:06GMTBBC World Service Australasia
Featured in...
![]()
Revolutionary women—The Forum
Warriors, scientists, visionaries: women who changed the world
![]()
Curious Minds
From the Nobel prize to the final frontier, women pushing the boundaries of science
Podcast
![]()
The Forum
The programme that explains the present by exploring the past
