Her life and work are closely attached to the themes of loneliness and the search for existential meaning, but also to the struggle for the affirmation of her identity as a writer, in a context in which the role of women in literature was still seen as irrelevant.

Mary was born in London in 1797 and died in the same place in 1851. She was the daughter of two revolutionaries, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, who were two of the most famous and discussed intellectuals of the time. Growing up in a liberal and progressive environment, Mary developed a deep passion for writing and reading from a young age. In fact, she was a novelist, essayist and philosopher. The premature death of her mother, only a few days after her birth, profoundly affected her life and her vision of the world. She felt guilty for her mother's passing. It is said that she was haunted by death, which followed her everywhere. She often had nightmares and couldn't sleep at night. She also had to deal with the drowning of her husband and the mourning from the loss of her children.

She had created a man who challenged the boundaries of life and death, giving life to a monstrous creature and then abandoning it.

Many people believed that Mary's husband had written the novel. They simply couldn't believe that a woman could enter the minds

of male characters, especially one like

Victor Frankenstein. And how did Mary respond? She proudly declared: "I am an artist, and as such l am

capable of understanding human emotions, both those of men and those of women."

Her response highlighted her belief that art and literature had no gender boundaries and that every writer, was capable of exploring the interiority of the human soul.

She proved, in fact, to be the real author of an amazing work.

Alice Augusta Ball was a pioneering African American chemist. She developed the first effective treatment for leprosy (also known as Hansen’s disease) in the early 1900s — a disease that had long been feared and stigmatized.

She was also the first woman and the first African American to earn a degree from the University of Hawaii and later became the university’s first female chemistry professor.

When did she live?

She was born in 1892 in Seattle, Washington, and died tragically young in 1916, at just 24 years old.

Was she recognized?

Not during her lifetime. After her death, her groundbreaking research on the "Ball Method" — which made injectable chaulmoogra oil a viable treatment for leprosy — was taken without credit by another male scientist who published her findings under his own name.

Decades later, her contributions were rediscovered, and she has since received posthumous honors:

• In 2000, the University of Hawaii recognized her with a plaque on campus.

• In 2007, Hawaii declared February 29 as "Alice Ball Day."

• She has since been celebrated as a trailblazer in both science and civil rights.

📅 When did she live?
She was born on November 7, 1867, in Warsaw, Poland, and died on July 4, 1934, in France.

🌟 Was she recognized?
Despite facing discrimination as a woman in science, Marie Curie earned worldwide recognition. She was the first female professor at the University of Paris and opened doors for generations of women scientists.

💭 Reflection
Marie Curie’s life reminds us that determination and passion can break through barriers. She changed the world not only with her discoveries but by proving that women belong in science.