Maria Sklodowska-Curie

Maria's diary:„All that I saw and learned that was new delighted me! It was like a new world opened to me - the world of science, which I was at last permitted to know."

Susan Quinn:
„I think that her Polish background was absolutely essential to her being able to do what she did. Her parents were … they were absolutely committed to the cause of Polish nationalism at the time of tremendous oppression under the Russian tsars. So, I think that she grew up with this kind of feistiness, feeling of resisting the status quo, resisting authority, which served her extremely well when she arrived in Paris, a place which was very much dominated, particularly the university, by the male authorities, where she was definitely in a minority."

Maria's diary:
„All my mind was centered on my studies. I divided my time between courses, experimental work and study in the library. In the evening, I worked in my room, sometimes very late into the night. All that I saw and learned that was new delighted me! It was like a new world opened to me - the world of science, which I was at last permitted to know"

„It began as a meeting of minds. They were introduced because Pierre had lab space and Maria Sklodowska, as she was then, was looking for lab space. But I think it quickly became a great love affair."