Marie Curie's Daily Routine: Inside the Work Ethic of a Two-Time Nobel Laureate

 

Marie Curie's daily routine as a physicist and chemist allowed her to win the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics along with the 1911 Nobel Prize in chemistry. She won in 1903 for her research on radioactivity and in 1911 for the discovery of the elements polonium and radium. Her research also pioneered the use of radioactivity in cancer treatment. Curie was the first woman in history to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to ever be given the award more than once. 

She is known to have had rather simple work habits but to have also worked long hours in the lab. For years, her lab was just an abandoned storeroom across from another workroom. These facilities were not weather-proofed and lacked the appropriate hoods to get rid of poisonous gases. Her research required frequent repetition and a high level of concentration. As such, she had to have a daily schedule that supported her intense work life.

So, what were the key parts of Marie Curie's daily routine?

Curie worked intensely, going back and forth stirring pitchblende for her research in her unheated lab. Pitchblende is a complex, radioactive mineral that contains many different elements. Curie would use various procedures to isolate her two discovered elements, polonium and radium, from pitchblende. After, working in her lab for the majority of the day, Curie would go cycling around the outskirts of Paris where she lived. 

What can we learn from Marie Curie's simple schedule and work habits?

Not all big accomplishments, involve big daily actions. Sometimes the biggest things we can do for our goals include completing the same small actions with consistency.