Tales of a 3rd Grade Nothing...or Why I Study Science

When I was in 3rd grade my school did a "wax museum." Now, I am no means under the impression that my elementary school was special in any way, so you might have had one of these too. If you don't know what it is then I can tell you. All the elementary school teachers reading this get your pens and paper out because this new 21 year old is about to tell you about one of the most enlightening experiences that I had as a young girl child. Anyway, the concept of the wax museum is that each student would dress up as a famous figure from history. It can be any person from any time period. It was like one of the coolest things I ever did in elementary school.

I think that if I had to pinpoint why I am pursuing a career in science, the 3rd grade wax museum is the one event that I would tell you about. Marie Curie is the one person I would tell you about. You see, before Marie Curie I was mad interested in space. I still am but not nearly to the degree that I am interested in Biochemistry. Before Marie Curie I wanted to study astronomy. Before Marie Curie my third grade reading consisted solely of nonfiction books about space. I was just that cool. Not to say that space isn't cool, space is way cool, I just like chemistry more.

But anyway, back to the point. When I was in third grade I had a great internal struggle in making my decision of who I wanted to be for the wax museum. I didn't want to go with an obvious choice like Amelia Earhart or Sacajawea, besides they were both taken, but at the same time there are not a lot of famous women that you discuss that early (which is a problem all itself). But after my dad jokingly suggested Pancho Villa (because we are Mexican), he threw out Marie Curie. I had no idea who she was, but after my dad told me that she was famous scientist I was sold.

I checked out like every small child's book I could find that mentioned Marie Curie (there aren't that many) and then I resorted to the internet. I don't quite remember what you learn science wise up to third grade, but I can guarantee that Radium and Marie Curie were not on the subject list. But they should be. I think Marie Curie should be taught in elementary schools as somebody just as important as Einstein. Without Marie Curie, I probably wouldn't be a science major (and Rosalind Franklin is probably why I am a biochemistry major specifically, but that is another blog post).

Marie Curie is the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win two Nobel Prizes, and the only person to have two Nobel Prizes in different science fields. She pioneered the field of radioactivity and isotope isolation. She discovered not one, but two elements (polonium and radium), and founded the Curie Institutes in Paris and in Warsaw. So far, she is he only woman to be buried in the Pantheon, Paris due to her own accomplishments.

Now, I am not a chemist. I do biochemistry now (and probably biochemistry when I hopefully go to graduate school next year), but it was really my idolization of Marie Curie that originally got me set on getting a degree in something where I would have to take a lot of chemistry. Something where I would have to learn how the world works on a small scale. I just chose a more biological side than a physical side. But the reasons for that can come in another blog post (one entitled: Avenging Rosalind Franklin).

Right now, we have a lack of women going into the sciences. And I really think part of that stems from the fact that in early education there are a lack of female role models in the sciences. We focus so much on the men in those fields that there doesn't seem to be a place for women. I think one way to help promote the sciences in young women would be to teach about the contributions of Marie Curie and not just the contributions of Einstein and Edison.