Dying of Curiosity

Marie was a very curious kid.

According to her mother, she taught herself to read at the age of four by picking out the letters on signs and shop windows.

She had two teachers for parents, just like me. That meant her curiosity was encouraged from an early age, and it probably became natural for her to wonder about things.

Her father, a physics and mathematics teacher, instilled in her a love for science. My own father taught math in high school, and he instilled in me an early love for science.

Throughout her youth, Marie's curiosity served as a compass, guiding her through hardship and propelling her toward scientific breakthroughs.

It was this unwavering curiosity that led her to become one of the most brilliant and important scientists ever to live.

It was this curiosity that drove her work with radium, an element that turned out to give off dangerous fast-moving particles we now call radioactivity, and which ultimately killed Marie Curie.

Yesterday, I wrote about people who died …