Who was the first woman to win a nobel prize? anne frank malala yousafzai maya angelou marie curie

Childhood Born on 12 July 1997, Malala grew up in the Swat Valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in North-west Pakistan. The value of education was instilled into her from an early age: her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, is a Pakistani diplomat and committed social activist who has set up a string of private schools and campaigned for education rights. While exploring ways to examine the rise of religious fundamentalism in the region, and its effects on everyday life, members of the BBC Urdu website hit on the idea of asking a local schoolgirl to blog about her experiences. “We had been covering the violence and politics in Swat in detail,” recalled Mirza Waheed, former BBC Urdu editor, “but we didn’t know much about how ordinary people lived under the Taliban.” At her father’s suggestion, Malala took up the role, although she blogged under a pseudonym, ‘Gul Makai’ (‘Cornflower’). Her first blog was posted by BBC Urdu on 3 January 2009 and covered military activities in the Swat Valley, including the destruction of more than a hundred girls’ schools, and the closure of her own. Malala’s final blog entry came two months later on 12 March. By that time, her public profile had risen considerably. By the end of the year, she had also interviewed by several national newspapers, from the Urdu Daily Aaj to the Canadian Toronto Star, and her true identity had been revealed. In October 2011, no less a figure than South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu proposed that Malala be nominated for the ...

With 2020 Nobel prizes going so far to Andrea Ghez for physics, Jennifer A. Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier for chemistry, and Louise Glück for literature , there are now 57 women who have been awarded a Nobel Prize out of the more than 900 recipients. One woman—Marie Curie—received two Nobel prizes. To highlight all the winners, Alexander Heinl/picture alliance via Getty Images Nobel committees have distinct methods for deciding winners. The Nobel Peace Prize, for example, is awarded by a five-person committee and anyone who meets the criteria can be nominated. For literature, however, nominations can only be made by qualified people. Despite the different nominating and selection processes, two rules apply to all awards: No person can nominate themself, and the names of the nominators and the nominees cannot be revealed until 50 years after winners are announced. Read on to learn about these women's exciting contributions to society, from helpful advancements in the HIV epidemic to the abolition of landmines to—in the case of Andrea Ghez—pioneering research on the Milky Way's supermassive black hole. You may also like: Getty Images/Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS Marie Curie (born Skłodowska) - Award: Nobel Prize in Physics - Year: 1903 Marie Curie, who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, coined the term "radioactivity." In 1903, she and her husband won the Nobel Prize for Physics for their study into spontaneous radiation. They share the award with Antoine Henr...

Oxford Science Archive/Heritage-ImagesMarie was determined that research into radiation should continue after her death. She helped found the Radium Institute (now called the Curie Institute) in Paris, France. It became a world-renowned center for nuclear physics and chemistry research. She also helped found the Curie Foundation in Paris and the Radium Institute of Warsaw. Marie understood the need to accumulate intense radioactive sources. The existence in Paris at the Radium Institute of a stock of 1.5 grams of radium, in which over a period of several years radium D and polonium had accumulated, made a decisive contribution to the success of the experiments undertaken in the years around 1930—in particular of those experiments performed by Irène in conjunction with her husband, Frédéric Joliot-Curie. This work prepared the way for the discovery of the

When it comes to record-setting Nobel Prize recipients, there’s Marie Curie and there’s everyone else. The Polish-French scientist was the first woman to share a Nobel Prize (the 1903 physics award, with her husband Pierre and fellow French scientist Henri Becquerel, for their pioneering work on radioactivity) and was also the first woman to receive an unshared Nobel, the 1911 chemistry prize, for her discovery of the elements radium and polonium. That makes her the only person ever to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences. As if that weren’t enough, four of her family members are also Nobel laureates. In addition to Pierre, her daughter and son-in-law shared the 1935 chemistry prize, while another son-in-law was the director of UNICEF when it won the 1965 peace prize. The first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize was Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita von Suttner, née Countess Kinsky von Chinic und Tettau, who won in 1905. Von Sutter was the author of an influential anti-war novel and had a leading role in convincing dynamite magnate Alfred Nobel to include a peace prize in his bequest. The first female Nobel literature laureate was novelist Selma Lagerlöf, whose most popular book was about a boy who flies around Sweden on the back of a goose. The first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was Gerty Theresa Cori, who shared the 1947 award for discovering how sugar-derived glycogen is used by the body as an energy source. The last first woman to win the...

(1867-1934) Who Was Marie Curie? Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person — man or woman — to win the award twice. With her husband Early Life and Education Maria Sklodowska, later known as Marie Curie, was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw (modern-day Poland). Curie was the youngest of five children, following siblings Zosia, Józef, Bronya and Hela. Both of Curie’s parents were teachers. Her father, Wladyslaw, was a math and physics instructor. When she was only 10, Curie lost her mother, Bronislawa, to tuberculosis. As a child, Curie took after her father. She had a bright and curious mind and excelled at school. But despite being a top student in her secondary school, Curie could not attend the male-only University of Warsaw. She instead continued her education in Warsaw's "floating university," a set of underground, informal classes held in secret. Both Curie and her sister Bronya dreamed of going abroad to earn an official degree, but they lacked the financial resources to pay for more schooling. Undeterred, Curie worked out a deal with her sister: She would work to support Bronya while she was in school, and Bronya would return the favor after she completed her studies. For roughly five years, Curie worked as a tutor and a governess. She used her spare time to study, reading about physics, chemistry and math. In 1891, Curie finally made her way to Paris and enrolled at the Sorbonne. She threw herself into her studies, but this de...

Laura Bush was first lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. In November 2001, she gave the first On Tuesday afternoon, Eleven years ago, America awoke to the barbaric mind-set of the Taliban. Its regime in Afghanistan was dedicated in part to the brutal repression and abject subjugation of women. Women were not allowed to work or attend school. Taliban religious police patrolled the streets, beating women who might venture out alone, who were not dressed “properly” or who dared to laugh out loud. Women could not wear shoes that made too much noise, and their fingernails were ripped out for the “crime” of wearing nail polish. Today, the Taliban has been pushed back, but it still operates in parts of At age 11, to protest what was happening in her homeland, Malala began to write about her experiences, Malala had dreamed of becoming a doctor, but recently she became interested in politics and speaking out for the rights of children. In 2011, Malala was a nominee for the Condemnations of the attempt on Malala’s life have been swift and powerful. The U.S. government called it “ Speaking out after an atrocious act, however, isn’t enough. Malala inspires us because she had the courage to defy the totalitarian mind-set others would have imposed on her. Her life represents a brighter future for Pakistan and the region. We must speak up before these acts occur, work to ensure that they do not happen again, and keep our courage to continue to resist the ongoing cruelty and barb...

Discussion Ideas • Who is Malala? • At 17, • She is an aspiring politician working to “save” Pakistan from fundamentalism and corruption. Malala does not yet belong to a political party, although she has already met with President Obama. (And was brave enough to say she disagreed with his policies regarding use of military drones in Pakistan.) • • Malala is also a best-selling author of a memoir, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban • Malala is a • Why did Malala win the Nobel Prize? • Malala is an outspoken supporter of human rights, focusing on the right of girls to attend schools. • She is the founder of • “We amplify the voices of the girls to keep them in the spotlight, inspire girls globally and drive action on girls’ issues by the global community.” • “We advocate at the international, national and local level for policy and system changes that give girls access to a high quality education at a community level.” • “We invest in community centered scalable solutions that provide quality education with potential for systems level change by empowering local leaders and educators.” • Is Malala the first Pakistani to win a Nobel Prize? • No, • How did Malala gain the attention of the international community? • Malala was inspired by her father, Ziauddin. He is the owner of a school and outspoken education activist—as was his father before him. Malala and her father began speaking to local community groups about the rights and oppor...