The Enlightening Meal by Taruna

The Enlightening Meal by Taruna - February 2016 Scholarship Essay

I look up from my plate, and I am still in awe. For sitting across from me is Mme. Marie Curie, one of the most famous scientists of her time. She is sitting with a formal posture, and is well mannered. She is still wearing her lab coat from working all day with dangerous chemicals. Luckily, I am wearing a hazmat suit, so I am unaffected by any emitted radiation. She chews her food, swallows, and calmly looks directly in my eyes. “So,” she begins, “Why am I the person you chose to have a meal with?”
This question shocks me, because Mme. Curie is an exceptional individual, and is an obvious first choice to have intellectual conversation with. She endured many a challenge. She and her husband, Pierre, struggled to make ends meet at first, and were forced to teach for long hours. She paid her sister’s way through school, and worked hard in education herself to receive top marks. She and Pierre not only isolated Polonium, but also Radium. She then worked on developing the modern X-Ray and insisted on improving the medical aid in wartime. After her husband’s death, she took over his teaching post at the Sorbonne, becoming the first woman to teach there. In fact, she paved the way for many women in her field, which at that time was very few. Even after winning 1.5 Nobel Prizes, she faced opposition from male peers, making it harder to do what she loved.
I shake my head, and respond to her question by asking her where she acquired her motivation to research in a field where few women ventured. Even today, males dominate the workforce, and in the early 1900s, the ratio was very much unbalanced. Despite the odds, Mme. Curie rose to the top through dedication. She even died from her career, due to the exposure of radiation, but I’m sure she had no regrets.
For every dollar a man makes, a woman makes .75 cents. In 2016! The effort that Mme. Curie put into her work, despite the obstacles she faced, inspires me to take on life in a new fashion. I want to defy the norms for women in today’s society. I’m planning to pursue both Business and Technology in my undergraduate studies, both of which are male dominated fields. I don’t feel intimidated, just even more encouraged to do what I’m interested in.
I finish my meal, but supper has just begun, as I seek to satiate my curiosity of the technical aspects of Mme. Curie’s achievements. Let the enlightening meal begin.