Real Life
Wonder
Women
By Norman Hill
When writing about women in history,
it is virtually impossible to name all
women who have made a large
contribution to Western society. That
would take years of research and
selection. Instead, what I’ve done is
to note some whom I believe have
made a substantial impact and what I
call real life wonder women.
Julia Child
A great American chef, born in 1912,
was the first female to graduate from
Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. After Child
and her husband returned to the U.S.,
she wrote recipes for American cooks
to show how French cooking was
possible and practical in American
homes. In collaboration with two
other French women, she wrote
“Mastering the Art of French
Cooking,” a two volume book that
was the first to explain French
cooking in a step-by-step manner.
After appearing on TV to promote her
book, the PBS station set her up as a
host for the first television cooking
show, “French Cooking.”
When subsequently appearing on
more TV shows and writing more
books, Julia Child became the first
and her husband received the 1903
Nobel Prize.
woman to be inducted into the
Culinary Institute Hall of Fame. In
2002, the Smithsonian’s National
Museum of American History installed
the kitchen where Child had filmed
three of her popular cooking shows.
Curie began teaching in Paris in 1900.
She became the first female full
professor of physics at the renowned
Sorbonne in Paris. She succeeded to
her late husband’s Chair, after his
untimely death in 1906.
After her death in 2004, the life of
Julia Child was celebrated in an
excellent movie. It showed how she
had brought both fun and fresh food
into the American kitchen.
Marie Curie continued work with
intricate scientific experiments.
After isolating pure metallic radium
in 1910, she received a second Nobel
Prize, this time in chemistry. She
continued to travel extensively and,
in the U.S. received numerous acclaim
and monetary awards.
Marie Curie
She is considered the greatest female
scientist, whose achievements
included discovery of radium. Born in
Poland in 1867, she continued her
education at the Sorbonne Institute
in Paris. While choosing her doctoral
dissertation subject, she focused on
invisible radiation from uranium salts.
By the time of her death in 1934,
Marie Curie had received 8 prizes, 16
medals and decorations, and 104
honorary titles and degrees.
After she married her husband, Pierre
Curie, in 1895, they continued this
study and made numerous
experiments together. By 1898, they
were able to isolate two new
radioactive substances, polonium and
radium. Despite considerable
skepticism from other scientists, by
1902, they were able to isolate this
radium completely. As a result, she
Marilyn Monroe
This beloved American actress
conveyed a sense of joyous life,
innocence and yet, sexuality on the
screen. Her qualities were widely
popular despite critical skepticism and
dismissal about her acting (and singing)
ability and her own tragic life.
66