Updated Feb. 28, 2025 at 12:30 a.m*
WARSAW — The toymaker LEGO has announced the release, on Saturday, of a new Evolution of STEM set that represents important moments that shaped key fields of science. The set also pays tribute to three outstanding figures. In addition to Maria Skłodowska-Curie, inside you will also find the figures of Sir Isaac Newton and George Washington Carver.
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The figure of Skłodowska-Curie holds a laboratory flask and a tablet with the designation “Ra.” This is, of course, a reference to radium, an element that the scientist discovered with her husband, Pierre Curie, with whom she shares one of her two Nobel Prizes (she was the first person ever to win two such prizes). The second element she discovered was polonium, named after her homeland, Poland.
It would seem that the premiere of the set is simply a celebration of science and should not cause any controversy. And yet, that is exactly what has occurred. LEGO has been criticized for using only the French part of the scientist’s surname.
Not the first time
The Polish and French descriptions of the set include her full last name, but the English version leaves the simplified form “Marie Curie.” This omission is — unsurprisingly — quite common outside of Poland, even though the scientist always used a compound last name in her personal life. This is evidenced by her signatures and Nobel certificates.
This is not the first time that the name of the Polish scientist has stirred controversy.
“Shame on you LEGO, Maria Skłodowska was Polish!”, “She was born in Poland, had Polish parents and named an element after her country, why are you cutting off her last name?” Polish citizens have commented online. Following this response, LEGO added the words “née Skłodowska” to the Nobel Prize winner’s last name.
This is not the first time that the name of the Polish scientist has stirred controversy. It was similar when in his 2024 film “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” Tim Burton presented Skłodowska-Curie as a “French physicist.”
Will it change?
In one scene, the character Astrid Deetz is going on Halloween. Dressed in her characteristic dark, modest, long Victorian dress, she tells a neighbor boy that she likes his James Dean costume. He replies that hers is also interesting and asks who she is dressed as. Then Astrid replies: “Marie Curie. French physicist with a double Nobel Prize and an icon of feminism,” she explains.
Then, as in the case of the premiere of the LEGO set, the attribution of French origins to Curie-Skłodowska sparked a wave of criticism from Poles on social media. Burton was criticized for his lack of basic historical knowledge and ignorance.
Will this latest wave of criticism cause some change with regard to how the double Nobel laureate is referred to? Time is yet to tell. But until then, Poles will be sure to remind you that the nationalized French scientist was born and raised in Poland, and remained proud of her homeland until the end of her life.
*Originally published Feb. 22, 2025, this article was updated Feb. 28, 2025 with enriched media.
