ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Marie Curie Sklodowska's visit to Czechoslovakia in 1925 through the media

• In Event: Mediating Knowledge: Self(re)presentation of a European Scholar Across Political Regimes

English Abstract

Two-time Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie Sklodowska visited Czechoslovakia in June 1925 at the invitation of the Czechoslovak government. The visit was planned long time in advance, the date and details were changed. In the end, it lasted four days, Marie Curie visited Prague, Jáchymov, Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně and Cheb, had an official dinner with President T. G. Masaryk and his daughter Alice. Before arriving, she expressed her wishes for how the visit should proceed. The Czechoslovak government had its own idea. The article will deal with the presentation of Marie Curie Sklodowska in the Czechoslovak media /newspapers, broadcast, radio/ in 1925, before, during and after her visit to the country. Short documentary films were also made that allow us to visualize this Nobel laureate and the most famous female scientist in the world during the visit. I will try to compare how her ideas about the course of her stay were met with the reality, modified by the Czechoslovak partners. I will ask about the reasons for choosing certain places to visit, meeting certain people. Were scientific, political or diplomatic interests taken into account in the preparation and conduct of the visit?

Author

• Milada Sekyrkova, Institute of the History and Archive of Charles University, Czech Republic