Animated Hero Classics - Season 2 - Eps 10: Marie Curie
As a young girl, Marie learns things quickly and her family knows she is very bright. Her country, Poland, is ruled by Russia and everyone has to learn Russian in order to attend the university, Marie watches her sister, Bronya, struggle to learn Russian, but for Marie learning the language is easy. The time has come for Bronya to go to the university. Marie accompanies her father and sister to the University of Warsaw. It is there they learn that all universities in Poland have been closed to women. After Marie graduates at the top of her class, she attends a secret university held in a local museum. Marie comes up with a plan that will allow both she and her sister to attend school at the Sorbonne in Paris. Marie works as a governess so she can support Bronya as she goes to school to become a doctor. After working for five years it is Marie's turn to go to Paris to study at the Sorbonne University. She is a top student and earns a masters degree in physics in just two years. The next year Marie earns a masters degree in mathematics. While in Paris, Marie meets and marries Pierre Curie. When Pierre is approached by Professor Lippman and Professor Bouty about becoming a professor at Sorbonne, he declines and says Marie is the best choice for the position. Pierre tells the professors of Marie's many accomplishments, including the discovery of radium. He tells how she demonstrated her love for science and mankind by giving away the secret of radium instead of selling it and becoming wealthy. Pierre tells how Marie is the first woman to receive her doctorate and the Nobel Prize. Because there has never been a woman professor at the Sorbonne, Professor Lippman and Professor Bouty will only allow Marie to work as a chief assistant to Pierre. Marie is thrilled to work with her husband at the university. Two years later, Pierre Curie is killed in an accident with a horse drawn wagon. With a new year about to begin at the Sorbonne, Professor Lippman and Professor Bouty ask Marie to join the school as a Professor of Physics. At first, Marie declines but then remembers a promise she made to Pierre - if one of us dies, the other must go on. Marie accepts the job and becomes the first woman professor at the Sorbonne.
About Animated Hero Classics
Title: Animated Hero Classics
First Air Date: 1991-06-01
Last Air Date: 2005-01-01
Status: Ended
Rating: 7.25/10 (from 4 votes)
Language: EN
Seasons: 2
Total Episodes: 20
Network: HBO
Genres: Unknown
Production Companies: NEST Family Entertainment
Synopsis
Animated Hero Classics is an educational Animated television series of programs co-produced by Nest Family Entertainment and Warner Bros. The series, geared toward elementary school aged children, includes twenty biographies of both female and male scientists, inventors, explorers, and social champions from around Europe, North America and the Middle East, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Florence Nightingale, Harriet Tubman, Joan of Arc, Benjamin Franklin, Helen Keller, Marco Polo, Marie Curie and Louis Pasteur. The Children's Television Act of 1990 required terrestrial television networks to devote time to Educational and Informative programming for children. Even though Warner Bros' cable networks were not directly affected by these requirements, these programs were debuted on their HBO network's Saturday morning children's block as a show of good faith that the network was committed to quality educational programming for children. The dramatic biographies were meticulously researched by the producers and written to engage both children and adults, providing an entertaining and accessible way to learn about the positive impact that these women and men have had on our world.
