science · 23 January 1911 · 113 years ago
In 1911, Marie Curie's nomination to the French Academy of Sciences, having already won one Nobel Prize, was nevertheless voted down by the Academy's all-male membership. Marie Curie was one of six candidates, of which only one was to be chosen. The result was 30 votes for M. Eduoard Branly, the inventor of the coherer for wireless telegraphy, and 28 for Mme. Curie. (The Branly coherer was such a critical factor in radio communication that Marconi selected him as the man to whom he sent the first message by wireless from England to France.) After the vote, an announcement was made to state that the vote did not reflect the attitude of the academy toward the admission of women in any sense, and the election was judged on merit for recognition. Curie went on to win a second Nobel Prize.
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