New Resource: Who is (or isn't) a good worker?
By Shelby Clark
I remember one of the first historical figures to ever capture my attention as a child was the multiple Nobel Prize award winning scientist Marie Curie. I had to do a book report for my 5th grade class on a historical person, and somehow I must have stumbled across her biography in our school library. I was fascinated by this person who studied such dangerous materials and made discoveries, but, moreover, I think I was amazed that she was a woman. To this day, she is the only prominent female scientist I can ever recall learning about in school, and perhaps it was that book report that made me think that, one day, perhaps I could be a scientist too.
At The Good Project we talk a lot about the power of mentors and role models in encouraging good work—work that is excellent, ethical, and engaging. No wonder, then, that with my own six year old daughter, I’m constantly reading her Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls and Women in Science Books—I want her to think about the different possibilities that are open to her in her future. For me, I continue to look to my mentors as sources of inspiration: I know I can’t wait to watch the recently released film, Radioactive, about Marie Curie’s life.
But why do we look to certain historical figures as mentors? What makes some historical figures’ work ethical, excellent, and engaging, and not others? To start thinking about this question, let’s look at some facts about Marie Curie’s life:
Seeking education. Marie grew up in Poland during the 1860s and 70s, a time of general civil unrest as Poland sought independence from Russia. Her father, a science teacher, taught her and her sister at home, and, given that women were not allowed to pursue higher education in Poland at the time, Marie decided to continue her education in Warsaw’s “floating university” (secret, informal classes) until she was able to ultimately continue her education in Paris at the age of 24 at the Sorbonne. There, she cleaned university labs to make ends meet, and sometimes rationed food until she “collapsed of weakness.” Ultimately, she earned her physics degree in 1893 and, a year later, her mathematics degree.
Perseverance. Many accounts of Marie Curie’s life note that it is surprising that she was able to make such groundbreaking scientific discoveries given the deplorable conditions she was working in. The German chemist, Wilhelm Ostwald, described her laboratory workspace as “a cross between a stable and a potato shed.” Despite the difficulty, Marie Curie was able to prevail in making the types of sensitive measurements and analyses needed to discover radioactive elements. Moreover, Marie prevailed in her work despite falling sick time and again from her work with radioactive elements; it is generally agreed that she died from leukemia due to radiation exposure.
Scientific discoveries. Marie Curie is primarily remembered for her scientific discoveries that led to her two Nobel Prizes for the discoveries of radioactivity (1903) and the elements polonium and radium (1911). In fact, Marie Curie’s 1903 doctoral thesis on radiation was deemed, by her professors, “the greatest single contribution to science ever written.” Today, her discoveries have been important in leading the way for radiation treatments for cancer patients. However, others (such as the recent Radioactive film) have discussed how her discoveries led the way for the development of the nuclear bomb.
Overcoming Adversity. Throughout her life, Marie Curie’s male colleagues were skeptical of her work and role in the academy. For example, when Marie was to be nominated for the Nobel Prize for her work on radioactivity, her male colleagues argued that the prize should only be split between her co-collaborators Henri Becquerel and Pierre Curie. Eventually, the prize was awarded to all three in 1903, the very first awarded to a woman. She later took over her husband, Pierre’s, professorship at the Sorbonne after his death—again the first woman to do so—yet she was still denied entrance to the French Academy of Sciences.
Giving Back. Despite groundbreaking discoveries, Marie (and Pierre) Curie never patented their scientific processes surrounding purifying radium, which ultimately meant that other businesses were able to purify their own radium and profit from their sale; indeed, this led to a “radium boom”, with prices for radium soaring up to $100,000. During WWI, Marie Curie developed portable x-ray machines that could be brought onto battlefields, which she nicknamed “Little Curies.”
Marie Curie as a Good Worker
So is Marie Curie an example of good work? Everyone can have their own answer to this question—it will partially depend on your values. First and foremost, I see Marie Curie as a role model of good work because she was an engaged worker. She found something that was meaningful to her, and she pursued that goal relentlessly, so much so that she was willing to ration her food intake, do her work in a dilapidated shed, combat sexism, leave her home country, and continually battle afflictions in order to pursue her goal. I certainly wouldn’t expect us all to go to such lengths in pursuit of our goals, but I find it inspiring to think about what it means to give your all for something in the pursuit of doing good; without her sacrifices, we may not have saved the millions of people today who are treated with radiation therapy.
One also can’t deny that Marie Curie is an exemplar of excellent work—there’s not much to say here when her professors deemed her dissertation “the greatest single contribution to science ever written.” But it’s interesting to think about the types of dispositions and virtues that Marie Curie must have had to draw on to be as excellent as she was; as noted, her workspace was prone to wild swings in temperature and humidity, and yet she was extremely exacting in her measurements and analyses—such dedication would require immense attentiveness to detail.
Finally, was Marie Curie an ethical worker? It’s harder for me to say. On the one hand, her work is the foundation of modern day radiotherapy, something for which I am profoundly grateful. She was also committed to medical work during her lifetime, developing her “little Curies” to be deployed during WWI. On the other hand, although she was not involved with the work (dying before the development of the Manhattan Project), her work paved the way for the development of the atomic bomb. I do find it admirable and ethical that Marie Curie did not needlessly profit off her discoveries during her lifetime, but instead donated her work to the scientific community and to the people. It is unfortunate that her work was then abused by others.
Our New Resource!
This blog serves as an announcement of our new activity and lesson plan entitled, “Who is (or isn't) a good worker?” In the activity, we offer examples of four well-known "workers" (Marie Curie, James Earl Jones, Frida Kahlo, and Jackie Robinson) and provide short biographies that offer glimpses into the ways these figures may or may not uphold the 3 Es (excellence, ethics, and engagement) of Good Work. Each biography is followed by reflection questions surrounding good work principles. Students also have the option to complete their own biographical profile of a figure of their choice, researching and exploring multiple facets of the person’s life.