An Evening With Marie Curie

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Famous Scientist Marie Curie Visits AAPT Meeting in Jacksonville

College Park, Maryland, United States, October 1, 2010—AAPT Winter 2011 Meeting attendees with have an unusual opportunity to meet famous scientist, Madame Marie Curie, as portrayed by scholar/actress Susan Marie Frontezak.  She has given over 300 performances as Marie Curie across the United States, Canada, and Europe.  In honor of the 100th anniversary of Marie Curie’s second Nobel Prize, AAPT will host “Marie Curie” on January 11, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront in a ticketed performance.

“We have rarely seen a single-person performance as enthralling as Susan Frontczak’s Manya…The evening, which ended with a standing ovation, passed much too quickly.

“Scientists in the audience applaud the accuracy of the presentation, while the non-scientists rejoice at the accessibility of Manya’s scientific descriptions.”

Curie is best known for the discovery of radium and radioactivity.  She was the first European woman to receive a doctorate in the sciences, the first woman to receive a Nobel prize, the first person to receive a second Nobel Prize (not to be repeated for 50 years), and the first woman to teach at the University of Paris in its 600 year history.  Meanwhile she raised her two daughters as a single mother after the tragic death of her husband.  These accomplishments will seem all the more remarkable when you learn about some of the obstacles she faced.

In dramatizing the life of Maria Sklodowska-Curie, Frontczak pays homage to their shared Polish heritage.  She like Curie, enjoyed school, and promotes awareness that academics can be a path to outstanding achievement.  Marie Curie’s perseverance in purifying a grain of radium from a ton of pitchblende, in part, inspired Frontczak to major in Engineering, where she worked for fourteen years before pursuing full time writing and acting.  She has always viewed both science and art as valid outlets for creativity.  It is her aim to reveal the human behind the scientist, while placing Marie Curie’s life and accomplishments in a memorable historical contest.

Key Web Sites
•    Main meeting site: http://www.aapt.org/Conferences/wm2011/
•    AAPT Winter Meeting Registration: http://www.aapt.org/Conferences/wm2011/registration.cfm
•    Hotel: http://www.jacksonville.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

About the AAPT WinterMeeting
More than 1,000 physics educators will gather in Jacksonville, Florida, January 8-12 for the AAPT 2011 Winter Meeting. The meeting includes workshops, sessions, plenary talks, and awards and more.

About AAPT
AAPT is an international organization for physics educators, physicists, and industrial scientists—with more than 10,000 members worldwide. Dedicated to enhancing the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching, AAPT provides awards, publications, and programs that encourage teaching practical application of physics principles, support continuing professional development, and reward excellence in physics education. AAPT was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in the American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland.

For more information, please contact:
Marilyn Gardner, American Association of Physics Teachers
office: 301-209-3306
mgardner@aapt.org