This week on Universal Geek we are doing something different and I’m going to tell you a love story as part of a Valentine’s Day celebration.
Before I begin the story of geek love, I want to share with you this message:
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The inspiration for this week’s program came from an old Radiolab show – Ultimate Mix Tape – where Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich told their listeners the story of Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan. These two marvelous people fell in love while working on the Voyager program. The Voyager interstellar probe was a tangible symbol of their love for each other as it grew over time.

I’m always moved by two aspects of this love story. One, just how genuine it felt with Ann describing their fragile feelings in the first moments of discovery and two, just how geeky it was.
 
I wanted to find other true life geek love stories. The non-traditional love stories Universal Geek listeners would relate to, understand, and appreciate.
 
The love story I want to share with you is about a shared passion for science.
Maria Sklodowska
Maria Sklodowska was born in Russia controlled Warsaw Poland in 1867.  Polish citizens were required to be educated by Russian standards. This made Polish nationals upset and they rebelled by creating the Flying University. The Flying University was a unique educational institution created so Polish citizens could be educated in the tradition of Polish standards.
Avoiding Russian mandated education was dangerous. This was a danger Maria Sklodowska was willing to take because Russian universities didn’t allow women to enroll. If Maria was going to pursue her interests in chemistry, physics, and mathematics she would have to risk studying at the Flying University.  
Studying at The Flying University would only take Maria’s education so far.
Due to her family’s ongoing patriotism and involvement in popular uprisings against the Russians, Maria and her sister were left without the assets needed to pay for their ongoing education so they made an arrangement. Maria would work and pay for her sister’s education in Paris and then her sister would work to pay for Maria’s education afterwards.
In 1890, Maria began her practical science training by working at the Museum of Science and Agriculture.  Just a year later, Maria left Poland for Paris where she studied at the University of Paris. By 1894, Maria (now known as Marie) took a job studying the magnetic properties of various types of steel.  
In 1894, Marie needed lab space for her research. A friend, Polish physicist Józef Kowalski-Wierusz, introduced Marie to Pierre – a French scientist who was also studying magnetism.
Pierre Curie
Born in Paris in 1859, Pierre Curie excelled in math and science. By the time he was 16, he had earned a degree in math. Despite having done the equivalent work of earning a Ph.D., Pierre Curie could not pursue an advanced education due to lack of funds. Instead he took a job as a laboratory instructor until he could continue his education.
In 1880, Pierre and his brother demonstrated when crystals were compressed they had an electrical potential.  This is a phenomenon known as piezoelectricity which became the basis of sonar, gas stove ignitors, and a bunch of sensors from devices detecting light to devices detecting sound and motion.
Pierre was appointed supervisor of School of Physics and Industrial Chemistry in 1882 where he began studying magnetism. Fourteen years later, a friend, a Polish physicist Józef Kowalski-Wierusz,