Marie Curie has topped a list of the 50 most inspirational women of all time. The Polish physicist and chemist, known for her pioneering research on radioactivity, was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first person to win two Nobel Prizes.
Florence Nightingale, one of the founders of modern nursing as well as a keen statistician, was voted into second place, in a poll of 2,000 people.
Anne Frank who kept a diary of her life during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II came third, ahead of Emmeline Pankhurst, Queen Elizabeth II and J K Rowling.
The survey was conducted by Your Life, the campaign to encourage more teenagers to study Maths and Physics post 16.
Your Life campaign chair Edwina Dunn said: “Marie Curie and Florence Nightingale deserve this accolade of being named the most inspirational women of all time. They are two brilliant icons whose determination, intelligence and altruism, led incredible scientific advances that changed the world. We want a new generation to be inspired to follow in their footsteps.”
