MARIE ALIAS
‘MANYA’
A n oted
chemist and physicist Marie Sklodowska Curie was the youngest child of her family. Manya
was the affectionate name of Marya Sklodowska. She had four elder sisters Sophie, Bronya,
Hela and Maria, and one brother named Joseph. Marie was a girl with rough hair and red
skin, born in Warsaw, Poland, on November 7, 1867. Her father, Wladyslaw Sklodowska was
the president of Dublin University and ran several schools, and her mother was a lecturer
at the Warsaw University.Marie's
mother, Bronislawa, had an enormous influence on all her children's lives, but especially
on Manya. Bronislawa was a working parent: the headmistress of one Warsaw's better girls'
schools. For a few years, the family lived in an apartment in the rear of the school, in a
stately town house on Freta Street. Marie was born in this apartment. Madam Sklodowska
often found herself overloaded with all the work of running a big household and school.
Sometimes she used to wish she were a single woman. Nevertheless, she found time to make
all the children's shoes by hand. Bronislawa was a republican in her own way, and little
Marie learned never to look down on manual labor. At the age of nine, she faced the death
of her eldest sister Sophie; this was the first tragic event of her life.
In 1871, Marie's uncle came to live with
them. None of the family were aware that he had a terminal case of tuberculosis, which is
a highly infectious pathogen or germ which iscarried through the air. In those days,
tuberculosis was a very dreaded disease; it affected almost every household, infecting
both rich and poor families alike.
It is very likely that Marie's mother
became infected with tuberculosis from her brother-in-law or perhaps from one of her own
students.
After just two years of her
sister's death, her mother succumbed to tuberculosis. Marie was only 11 when she had to
face this second tragedy.
THIRST FOR EDUCATION
Her
parents had always ben firm believers of the importance of education. In fact, she was
born in a family of teachers, a family that considered education above anything else.
Marie had her first lessons in physics and chemistry from her father. For her formal
education, she was first admitted to a private grammar school.
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At the grammar school that Marie attended, they had a "double curriculum." The teachers would pretend to study Russiam-approved subjects whenever the inspector would visit (Russians had the control over the all the public schools). This was stressful for Marie because she was usually called on to recite some passage in Russian for the inspector since she was a top student. When she was around 10 years old, her father transferred her to the Russian-controlled public schools. The students there spoke only Russian in class, and every subject was taught in the politically correct way. Despite this, Marie enjoyed school, and her father had very high expectations for all his children. Bronia, Jozef, and Helena, Maries older sisters and brother, had all graduated first in their class. Marie was expected to do the same. Both Bronia and Marie wished to study abroad, perhaps in Paris where there were many Polish ex-patriots. They knew their father could not afford it. In fact, the family had to take student boarders and to run a school there in the apartment when Marie's father lost his job in the public schools. However, the girls were persistent; they never gave up on their dream, they would find an ingenious solution to the financial obstacle. |
When
Marie Sklodowska graduated from public school at the age of 15, she was awarded a gold
medal as the Valedictorian of her class. She had a brilliant aptitude for study and
a great thirst for knowledge. Nevertheless, the five years of intense study had taken
their toll. She must have been under enormous pressure todo as well as her older siblings,
Bronia and Jozef. Marie was exhausted, and so her
father decided that Marie and her older sister Helena would spend a year with her wealthy
uncle and his wife at their country estate. There Marie relaxed with horse-back riding,
fishing, swinging "hard and high," and rowing on a lake. In the winter, they
went on several kuligs or sleigh rides through the Polish countryside and danced
sometimes all night at many parties. Famous polish artists and intellectuals would often
drop by at the manor house for a visit. The experience gave Marie a view of life at the
top, and it was a needed escape from all the pressure of exams, grades, and school.
Marie
dreamed of being able to study at the Sorbonne University in Paris. But the dream was
beyond the means of her family. To solve the problem, Marie and her elder sister Bronya
made a plan that first Marie should go to work as a governess and help Bronya to study
medicine at the Sorbonne, and when Bronya took her degree, she would contribute to the
cost of Marie’s studies. As a result, Marie could not start further studies until she
was 24. Marie’s experience as a governess was very unsatisfactory. She found an
opening with a rich Warsaw family and hoped that children would be pleasant and their
parents would be helpful and understanding. Marie was a healthy, honest, tender hearted
and gay girl. According to her teachers, she was a ‘notably gifted’ student. It
is almost tragic that a girl of such gifted qualities had to suffer with the extremely
dense and quarrelsome people of the Warsaw family.
The
years Marie spent working as a governess were frustrating. Sometimes she felt quite
worthless as if her life was going nowhere. The situation became more difficult when Marie
fell in love with the son of one her employers, Kazimierz Zorawski. They talked seriously
of marriage, but ultimately his parents rejected her because of her family's impoverished
financial situation. Marie had to stay on another year in this position. It was awkward to
say the least. The hope of marriage to Kazimierz lingered on and then collapsed when Marie
later decided to go back to Warsaw.
Eventually,
she decided to resign from her post as governess. At the time, she was only eighteen and
did not know what the future held in store for her. When Bronya married a doctor of Polish
origin, she invited her to come and live with them. Marie agreed and immediately left for
Paris. |
