C3401

Nobel Prize Centenary

Alfred Nobel

Collins Cover Announcement 

THE NOBEL PRIZE

Since 1901, five Nobel Prizes have been awarded each year to recognize outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. In 1968, an additional prize was established for economic science achievement in memory of the man who founded these important standards of world recognition — Alfred Nobel.

Dealing with United States stamps, it is difficult for me to find opportunities to honor citizens of other countries who have contributed to the wellbeing of mankind. With this in mind, I am taking this opportunity to pay tribute to Marie Curie. Marya Sklodowska was born in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867 and from early childhood exhibited an extraordinary memory. Her father was a professor of mathematics and physics, and Marya aspired to become a scientist one day.

In 1891, she went to Paris and enrolled at the Sorbonne as a science student. She signed her registration card, using the French translation of Marya — Marie. She earned the Licence of Physical Sciences in 1893 and the Licence of Mathematics in 1894. It was then that she met and married French physicist Pierre Curie. Their marriage was a loving one, and it also became a scientific partnership that would receive worldwide recognition for their joint achievements.The Curies studied uranium rays and their penetrating powers. Marie named this new phenomenon "radioactivity." In 1903, Marie earned her doctorate in chemistry, and that same year she won the Nobel -Prize in physics for her work with uranium. In 1911, the Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Marie Curie the Nobel Prize in chemistry for her discovery of the elements of radium and polonium. She was the only person ever to have received the Nobel Prize in both physics and chemistry, and that is why I chose to honor her on this Collins First Day Cover.

When she was a child in Poland, her father kept a glass case filled with glass tubes and flasks. They fascinated and motivated the young Marya, and that is how I wanted to portray the Marie Curie of the early 1900s. The bold hand painted cachet is simple and powerful, capturing the scientific dedication and determination that this Nobel Prize winner demonstrated throughout her lifetime. On July 4, 1934, she died of pernicious anemia caused by her long-term exposure to radium. Left behind was a truly amazing legacy of scientific contributions that even today influences the work of the world's physicists and chemists. I am pleased to present the Nobel Prize FDC and one of its most famous recipients — Marie Sklodowska Curie. Collins #C3401 - $12.25.