Standish High School - Crimson Rambler Yearbook (Standish, ME)

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Her professors were both suprisedaauidelighted with her imagination enthusiasm, and skill. Here among them was a small, frail-looking girl who surpassed by far all her fellow students in intelligence and skill. They encouraged her to go on with any research that interested her. Heartened, she decided to try for a double master's degree in physics and mathematics. She succeeded. Manya passed with highest hon- ours in the masterfs examination in physics in 1895 and with second highest honours in mathematics in 1894. Soon after this, Marie met Pierre Curie, a French scien- test, at the home of a mutual friend. Pierre was both supp- rised and pleased to find that this pretty young woman could talk his language that of science so well, as well in fact, as he could. Marie also was very much impressed by her new acquaintance. There was something about the quiet, intelli- gent man that made her heart do cartwheels-something about the way his eyes glowed warmly when he smiled and looked so cool and precise when he talked of science-something about the quiet and gentle manner in'which he spoke and moved. Pierre Curie was one of the leading French scientists, but he made very little money. Therefore, he did not think it would be quite fair to ask Marie to marry him. However he finally got up his courage and asked her. Marie happily accepted his proposal. Marie and Pierre had a quiet little wedding ceremony and started off on their honeymoon a bicycling trip. When they returned, they commenced their laboratory work. They devoted every minute they possibly could to the work of solving scien tific mysteries. dThe Curies had two daughters. It is an object of great wonder how Marie managed to run a house, raise two children, and work with her husband in the laboratory so successfully. Pierre was killed early in their marriage, and his cour- ageous wife earried on his work. She worked for years with radium and closely connected minerals, and finally died- from over-exposure to radium rays. Pierre and Marie made many discoveries in the scientific field, but the one which made them most famous was the dis- covery of radium, a substance which is of great importance in the treatment of cancer. Although both worked on this discovery, most credit is attributed to Marie. No one will ever forget Marie Sklodovska Curie for it is her most important discovery, radium, that brings relief to thousamds of people from the terrible affliction-CANCER Suzanne Thomas '5l

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Nstop staring at me like that! I forbid you to look down upon melu whereupon Manya, who was a head taller than her teacher answered, Nl can't very well do anything else, Mademoisellelu In spite of her rebellious nature and the dislike of several of her teachers, Manya was awarded the gold medal, lsymbol of the highest scholastic recordl, upon her grad- uation from high school. It had become sort of a habit with the Sklodovska family to bring home these merit awardsg there were now three in the family! when Manya graduated, her father sent her to the country to rest up, fearing that she, like her mother, would fall victim to consumption. There she roamed around in the fields and woods, enjoying nature while she could. After her year's vacation, Manya returned to Warsaw and to an uncertain future. Both she and her older sister Bronya wanted to study at the Sorbonne, a university in Paris: Manya for a doctor's degree in physicsg Bronya for a doctor's degree in medicine. There wasn't enough money to finance even one of them through the university, so how on earth could both of them go? Why, oh why, couldn't they have had plenty of money? But there was no use thinking about such impossible things. They must find a solution for their prob- lem. Manya found the solution. She decided that since her sister was the older, Bronya should go the Sorbonne first. Manya would work as a governess to sunnort her sister. When Bronya graduated, she would work to send Manya through. ' Bronya, after much scrimping and studying, obtained her medical degree and married a fellow student. She was then ready to conclude her half of the bargain. Manya was able at last to see the fulfillment of her life-long dream. At the Sorbonne she registered her name in the French manner--Marie Sklodovska. She was twenty-three at the time and very pretty. For four years she led the Hlife of a monkn. Bronya and her husband begged her to live with them but she refused to be a burden to anybody. She lived alone in an ugly sixth floor room in the Latin Quarter. The room had neither heat nor water, and the only light came through a loop-hole in the slanted ceiling. She lived on a diet of bread, butter, and tea--with an egg or fruit added to it on special occasions. ' Manya lived in a world of books and lectures. Physics, chemistry, mathematics, poetry, music, astronomy,---the entire circle of the earth and heavens had come within her reach. Of them all she was most interested in her experiments

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THE HOUSING PROBLEM Today, we in the United States face a serious crisis, the housing problem. At this time there are more families than ever before and the average family likes to be situated near work, stores, and schools. How that most of the men in the armed forces have come home and are married they find no place to live. Many of them are finishing their schooling with the help of the G.I. Training Program, but even on the campus there are not enough houses to permit them to live with their families. Not only is it just the Ex-G.I.'s that have no place to live, but also the many displaced persons who want to come here from all over Europe because there is no other place for them to go. Due to high cost and scarcity of building materials and fixtures, the average person cannot afford to build his own home. The housing projects and prefabricated houses have helped this problem in some places, but the average house is so expensive that were it not for the Government loans these projects would be useless. In the rural districts there are some vacant places that could be used for living quarters if they were developed, but unless a person could earn a living by farming or some other nearby occupation, the expense of traveling to and from work would be too great for anyone to benefit from living in the country. - In the cities, there are many bad slum districts where people live in surroundings that are unfit for human beings. Some landlords in large apartment houses are strict in their rulings excluding families with children. They do not allow children under certain ages due to the extra noise and damage that they cause. The only solution I see to this problem is for people to wait, if possible, until prices go down where they should be and then once more to build and own their own homes, Patricia Brown 'Sli