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Secondary sourceSculpturePhotographed 11 February 2017

Wooden Sculpture of Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Szydłów

Jakub Hałun · Photographed 11 February 2017

A modern wooden statue of Marie Curie in the Polish town of Szydłów, showing her holding a small flask.

A commemorative statue in Poland depicting Marie Curie as a scientist, holding a flask symbolising her chemical research.

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A carved wooden statue of a woman with hair pulled up, wearing a high-collared buttoned blouse and long skirt, holding a small jug or flask in her hands. She gazes upward against a pale wall and a window with small panes.
Jakub Hałun, photograph of a wooden sculpture of Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Szydłów, 2017.

About this source

What it is

This photograph shows a carved wooden statue of Marie Skłodowska-Curie located in Szydłów, Poland. The figure wears a high-collared blouse and long skirt and holds a small jug or flask, likely referencing her scientific work.

Why it matters

This later artwork shows how Marie Curie is remembered as a scientific pioneer in her native Poland. Depicting her holding a flask highlights her identity as a chemist and physicist, even though the sculpture was made long after her lifetime.

Look closer

  • Why might the sculptor have chosen to show Curie holding a flask rather than another object?
  • What does the choice of wood as a material suggest about local craft traditions?
  • What parts of Curie's life or work does this statue leave out?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marie Curie on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Cover of the January 1904 issue of the magazine Le Radium, showing a printed masthead and a photograph captioned Le Laboratoire de la Rue Lhomond. The photo shows two men and a seated woman among laboratory equipment and glassware, with the caption M. & Mme Curie below.Photograph

Primary source

Photograph of Pierre and Marie Curie in their Laboratory, rue Lhomond

c. 1898-1904

Title page of the 1904 second edition of Recherches sur les substances radioactives by Madame Sklodowska Curie, a thesis presented at the Faculté des Sciences de Paris. Published in Paris by Gauthier-Villars. Handwritten number 5 and a note appear in the top right corner.Book

Primary source

Recherches sur les substances radioactives

Marie Curie · 1904

Document

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Rayons émis par les composés de l'uranium et du thorium

Marie Curie · 12 April 1898

A museum display case showing a wooden mahogany box with its lid open and a round metal radium container inside, beside a separate lidded metal canister with a brass knob, a key on a chain, and a small cluster of tubes on the glass base.Artifact

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International Radium Standard

Marie Curie · 1911

Black-and-white photograph of a clear glass vessel with a flared conical bowl, a pouring spout on the left rim, and a short stem on a flat circular foot, set against a plain light background.Artifact

Primary source

Glass beaker used for the first radium salt solution

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