Stop the demolition of Marie Curie's laboratory

The Pavillon des Sources laboratory in central Paris, where Marie Curie once lived and worked, is set to be completely demolished as part of a redevelopment project by the Institut Curie, the agency responsible for managing the site. However, Minister of Culture and Information Rima Abdul Malak said in a post on X over the weekend that the demolition had been halted following discussions with the institute's president, Thierry Philip.

Photo of Marie Curie in the laboratory

The laboratory at 26 rue d'Ulm was one of several buildings built when the Radium Institute, now known as the Institut Curie, was founded in 1909. The laboratory was scheduled to be demolished to make way for a new, larger building, but cultural heritage activists opposed the decision because of the role the Pavillon des Sources played in Marie Curie's groundbreaking scientific career.

It was here that the Polish-born French physicist lived and worked, carrying out some of the work that led to her discovery of polonium and radium.

Poland's ambassador to the UK, Piotr Wilczek, praised the decision to halt the demolition in a post on X.

"A victory for heritage preservation! Marie Curie's Paris laboratory, where the Polish-born Nobel laureate pioneered groundbreaking research, has been saved from demolition. Let's preserve the legacy of this extraordinary woman!", Wilczek wrote.

However, activist Baptiste Gianeselli, a key figure in the campaign to save the lab and have it listed as a historical monument, said the fight was not over.

Pavillon des Sources in central Paris

Meanwhile, the Institut Curie insists the construction project should go ahead.

A statement from the Institut Curie on January 5 said the Pavillon des Sources was simply a radioactive waste storage site. However, the Institut Curie confirmed that the dismantling of the laboratory had been suspended for a “period of reflection”, during which alternative solutions would be considered.

Marie Curie (1867-1934) became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only woman to ever win a Nobel Prize in two categories: physics and chemistry.

Marie Curie (Maria Sklodowska) was born in Warsaw, Poland. She moved to Paris in 1891 to study at the Sorbonne University, where she met her husband, French physicist Pierre Curie, in 1894. The couple married the following year and conducted some early research together before Pierre's death in 1906.

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