Marie (Maria in Polish) Skłodowska-Curie is another child of the city who (like Chopin) left to make it in Paris. She’s arguably the most famous female in the sciences, the winner of not just one, but two Nobel prizes – one in Physics, one in Chemistry. One of my favorite details about her is that she refused to see any danger in the substances she was studying in stubborn pursuit of the good they could do. Her fingers were blackened with radiation burns because she wouldn’t wear gloves – she touched these elements daily with her bare hands.

Warsaw launched a year-long celebration of Curie, commissioning works from local artists and media-makers – murals covering the sides of neighborhood buildings, interactive atomic bicycles, sculptures, and even a multimedia audio guide from myself and Anna Piwowarska.

Check it all out here.