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8 Inspiring Stories of Female Empowerment and Success – Get Ready to Be Motivated! (2 of 5)

Marie Curie Nobel Prize, Sleeve

2. Marie Curie: The First Woman to Win a Nobel Prize

When Marie Curie decided she wanted to be a scientist, a lot of people scoffed at her. After all, back in the 19th century, this was considered to be “men’s” work. Although she faced discrimination along the way, she not only carved quite a career for herself in the fields of physics and chemistry, she remains to this day the only Nobel Prize winner in two different scientific fields. More than a hundred years after her pioneering work on radioactivity, young women today are increasingly seeking out careers in STEM fields, and thus carrying out her legacy.

Willie Mays, right, watches as President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, in Washington. Obama is recognizing 17 people with the nation’s highest civilian award, including one of the greatest catchers in baseball history and a
Willie Mays, right, watches as President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, in Washington. Obama is recognizing 17 people with the nation’s highest civilian award, including one of the greatest catchers in baseball history and a “Funny Girl.”

3. Katherine Johnson: The Mathematical Space Wizard

Thanks to the 2016 film Hidden Figures, a movie that was nominated for three Academy Awards and turned a profit of $95 million, countless people are familiar with Katherine Johnson’s amazing story. An employee at NASA who played an important role in the first moon landing, Johnson’s mathematical talents earned her the nickname “the human computer” because of the ease at which she was able to calculate trajectories. Although she faced both racism and sexism, she never allowed these problems to get the best of her.

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