PrintMarie Curie Sculpture to be unveiled at Cancer Centre London
The first woman awarded a Nobel prize and the only person ever who won Nobel prizes in two sciences
Monday 26 March
Cancer Centre London
49 Parkside
Wimbledon
London SW19 5NB
Maria Skłodowska-Curie was born in the Polish capital Warsaw and did her initial scientific training there before moving to Paris at the age of 24 to further her education at the Sorbonne. Together with her husband, Pierre, and Henri Becquerel, she was awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 1903 for their research on radiation. After her husband’s death, she continued her work and in 1911 won a second Nobel prize, this time for chemistry, for the discovery of the elements radium and polonium (named after her native country). She was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel prize and remains the only person ever to win Nobel prizes in two sciences.
Radiation has proved to have huge importance in the worldwide treatment and cure of cancer and, to mark the centenary of her second prize, the Polish Heritage Society (UK) is donating a statue of Maria Skłodowska-Curie for display in The Cancer Centre London.
The sculpture is by the Polish artist Tomasz Maciej Danilewicz. The original plaster bust was on display at the Royal Castle in Warsaw for ceremonies involving the French and Polish governments last year to mark the anniversary. Thanks to the Polish Heritage Society (UK) and with the financial support of the Polish Cultural Institute in London, a bronze of the bust is being cast for the Cancer Centre London.
The bust will be unveiled by the Polish Ambassador, Barbara Tuge–Erecińska at the Cancer Centre London, Wimbledon Parkside, on Monday 26th March 2012.