Ever hear of Dan Shechtman? Me either. Last month, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering quasicrystals. Does the name Melvin Calvin ring a bell? He was awarded the prize 50 years ago for carbon dioxide research.

Well, how about Marie Curie who earned the same prize 100 years ago today for her discovery of and ground-breaking work with radium? Now, there is a name we recognize. Hers is a household name still because she pursued her goals and cleared her hurdles in such a way that her example remains relevant so many years later.

Curie was the first European woman to earn a doctorate in science, the first female professor at the University of Paris, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to earn prizes in two disciplines. She founded institutes in Paris and in Warsaw, was instrumental in treating wounded soldiers in WWI and set the groundwork for cancer treatment.

She has been celebrated with everything from the French Legion of Honor to commemorative statues and postage stamps. In fact, all of France declared this year to be the Year of Marie Curie.

She is an icon because or her work as a chemist, but I find her ability to confront obstacles head on as inspiring as her achievements. Curie was born with two strikes against her—she was a woman in an era when women were suppressed and a Pole at a time when Russia controlled Poland with a heavy hand. Despite what appeared a bleak future, though, she was fiercely determined to get an education even when one was officially forbidden.

In the late 1800s, women were not admitted to most European universities, and the Russians censored what education was available to native Poles. So, young people like Curie banded together in what they called the Floating University. They held clandestine classes at night and on Sundays, meeting in private homes and changing locations to avoid being found out. With the help of renowned lecturers, they studied the humanities, sciences and mathematics; and they performed covert lab research and pitched in to develop a secret library.

Nearly 5,000 young women, along with disenfranchised men, attended this underground university, and it became a source of national pride. “Truly the means of action were poor and the results obtained could not be considerable;” Curie wrote, “Yet I still believe that the ideas which inspired us then are the only way to real social progress.”

It wasn’t until Curie moved to Paris that she was permitted an accredited education and could do lab research openly, but she held onto her fond memories of the Floating University. The secret school was a collaborative effort filled with sympathetic and enthusiastic companions “who united in a common desire to study, and whose activities were at the same time social and patriotic.” The setting allowed her to developed an intense work ethic and mighty resolve.

Believe it or not, we live in fortunate times. We aren’t forced to create secret societies to achieve our goals, and we need not fear government retribution for attempting to learn beyond our “station.” Our schools are now open to everyone, so that our daughters can learn along with our sons, and we are free to pursue our goals with near-limitless possibilities.

Curie’s story makes me wonder, though, how we would fare if we were to suddenly lose our freedoms and find ourselves tested by severe adversity, if we were forced to hide underground for something as basic to us as education for women. Would we sit down with arms folded, or would we stand up with shoulders back and hands ready for work in order to make our own opportunities?

Most of us won’t become household names, and we won’t be remembered a century from now, but that isn’t the point. Marie Curie proved that when aiming for the most esteemed pursuits, obstacles are no excuse for failure. “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that?” she said. “We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that thing must be attained.” That thing must be attained even if our achievements are lost to history.

Photo: Marie Sklodowska (Curie) at 16