Poland promotes pioneering work of Polish Nobel Prize winner
11.04.2025
The Polish Embassy in Lebanon opened an exhibition at the ESA Business School in Beirut, commemorating the pioneering work of double Nobel Prize winner Maria Skłodowska-Curie. This specially organised conference was well-attended by a cross-section of Lebanese society, including the Lebanese Atomic energy Commission and the Minister of the environment, Minister Tamara Elzein. The event was created thanks to the cooperation of the Polish Embassy, the French Embassy in Lebanon and the French Institut Curie.
Scientist Marc Joliot, Great-grandson of Maria Skłodowska-Curie, and Dr Pierre Anhoury, public health specialist, gave an engaging talk on the importance of radioactivity in our daily lives. In addition to being a direct descendant of Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Marc Joliot, Ph.D. is a senior researcher in multimodal biomedical imaging at the French Atomic Energy Commission and Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Institut Curie, while Dr. Pierre Anhoury is Ambassador of the Institut Curie for the Middle-East region, and advisor to the Lebanese Minister of Health for the French Government.
Maria Skłodowska-Curie’s personal history was reflected in the collaborative nature of the project, since she initiated numerous scientific contacts between Polish and French research institutions, believing that science went beyond national boundaries and discoveries were to serve the good of humanity. While the pioneering nature of Maria Skłodowska-Curie’s work is brought to the fore in the exhibition, it should also be highlighted that she broke down a number of barriers and paved the way for other women to be able to freely educate themselves and develop careers in fields that were then reserved for men.
The exhibition was prepared by the Museum Curie in France with the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum in Warsaw providing promotional materials. The mobile exhibition about the life and scientific work of Maria Skłodowska-Curie will be available in selected educational and medical institutions in Lebanon.
