Curie came from a family of teachers who believed so strongly in education that her father brought home discarded test tubes from the laboratory at his school and encouraged Marie to perform experiments. Because she was a girl, she couldn't go to University. So she began studying clandestinely at what was called a "Floating University," a secret set of informal, underground classes held in Warsaw.
Today, November 7, is Curie's birthday. Her discovery of radiation is the beginning of modern knowledge of the spectrum of electro-magnetic radiation.
Curie won two Nobel prizes, which ought to be a signal that women ought not to be barred from any sort of education.
I owe this blog post to Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac of today, republished from Nov. 7, 2017.
