DR5 Ladies Lab Coat

The DR5 Ladies Lab Coat takes its inspiration from Professor Marie Curie, the first female professor at the University of Paris. Marie Curie was a pioneer in the field of radiation research and the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in two different categories. A towering scientific intellect, she lived through the Victorian era, when opportunities for women and opportunities for women academically were few and far between. Marie Curie was born, Maria Sklodowska in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867, to a family of prominent educators. She was forced to study underground, as she wasn’t able to be accepted in the men-only University of Warsaw. Marie then had to leave the country in order to get her Ph.D degree; becoming the first woman to receive a Ph.D degree at a French university. Upon completing her master’s degree in physics in 1893, she earned herself another degree in mathematics the following year. It was at this time, she received commission to do a study on different types of steel and their magnetic properties. Curie needed a lab space, and she was introduced to French physicist Pierre Curie. A romance developed, and the pair got married on July 26, 1895. As dedicated scientists, they formed a dynamo duo. Marie and her husband began studying the radiation and the properties of uranium. In 1898, working with the mineral pitchblende, they discovered a new radioactive element. As well as detecting the presence of another previously unknown radioactive material, which they named radium. In 1902, the couple announced they had produced a decigram of pure radium, demonstrating its existence as a unique chemical element. The following year, Marie Curie made history becoming the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in physics. She won the honor alongside her husband and Henri Becquerel, for their work on radioactivity. In 1906, Marie suffered the loss of her husband when he was hit by a horse-drawn wagon. Taking over his teaching post at Sorbonne, becoming the institution’s first female professor. In 1911, Curie made history again, receiving the Nobel Prize in chemistry for her discovery of radium and polonium, becoming the first scientist to win two Nobel Prizes. When WWI broke out, Curie devoted her time and resources to helping, championing the use of portable X-ray machines in the field. These medical vehicles earned the nickname “Little Curies.” Today, several educational, research institutions and medical centres bear the name Curie.