"Nobody knows of the work it makes

To keep the home together,

Nobody knows of the steps it takes,
Nobody knows -- but Mother."
Author unknown

___________________________________
Emily Bronte
Learn a little about Emily Brontë here, and then enjoy our fun colouring pages and printables with the kids!

Emily Brontë (1818-1848) wrote only one novel, Wuthering Heights, but that one novel - written under the pen name Ellis Bell and
thought rather shocking when it was published - is considered to be a classic of English literature and has been made into
numerous films and TV series in recent years.

Emily was born in Yorkshire, the fifth of six children (although two died in childhood). Her mother died when she was only three.
After a brief spell at a severe boarding school (from which Emily's older sister Charlotte derived some of the details for her novel
Jane Eyre), Emily and her remaining two sisters were educated at home with their brother Bramwell. The siblings had a strict
childhood but were able to read widely. From an early age they wrote stories together and developed vivid imaginations.

As the girls grew up they dreamed of opening their own school, furthering their own educations whenever possible and taking up
positions at schools and as governesses too. Emily's health wasn't good, however, and when, in her early twenties she had to
return home due to ill health, she became the home-maker.

In 1847, Emily published Wuthering Heights and her older sister Anne published Agnes Grey. Wuthering Heights was thought to
have been written by a man and received mixed reviews. Sadly Emily became ill soon afterwards and died just a few months after
her brother, at the age of only 30. Anne also died shortly afterwards.
"Nobody knows of the work it makes
To keep the home together,
Nobody knows of the steps it takes,
Nobody knows -- but Mother."
Author unknown

____________________________________
Emily Bronte
Learn a little about Emily Brontë here, and then enjoy our fun colouring pages and printables with the kids!

Emily Brontë (1818-1848) wrote only one novel, Wuthering Heights, but that one novel - written under the pen name Ellis Bell and
thought rather shocking when it was published - is considered to be a classic of English literature and has been made into
numerous films and TV series in recent years.

Emily was born in Yorkshire, the fifth of six children (although two died in childhood). Her mother died when she was only three.
After a brief spell at a severe boarding school (from which Emily's older sister Charlotte derived some of the details for her novel
Jane Eyre), Emily and her remaining two sisters were educated at home with their brother Bramwell. The siblings had a strict
childhood but were able to read widely. From an early age they wrote stories together and developed vivid imaginations.

As the girls grew up they dreamed of opening their own school, furthering their own educations whenever possible and taking up
positions at schools and as governesses too. Emily's health wasn't good, however, and when, in her early twenties she had to
return home due to ill health, she became the home-maker.

In 1847, Emily published Wuthering Heights and her older sister Anne published Agnes Grey. Wuthering Heights was thought to
have been written by a man and received mixed reviews. Sadly Emily became ill soon afterwards and died just a few months after
her brother, at the age of only 30. Anne also died shortly afterwards.
Marie Curie
Marie Curie (1867–1934) was a Polish scientist whose groundbreaking research on radioactivity won her two Nobel Prizes, and led
to a revolutionary new treatment for cancer. Marie lived at a time when women’s career opportunities were restricted, so her
achievements were even more remarkable. Discover more about this determined and dedicated lady, and use our printable
resources below to test your findings.

Fun Facts
The Curie family won five Nobel Prizes between them. Marie Curie won for Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911). Her husband
Pierre won for Physics (1903), Marie and Pierre’s daughter Irene won for Chemistry (1935), and, finally, their son-in-law (Henry
Labouisse Jr.) was director of UNICEF when it won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965.
 
Marie Curie’s research papers are still highly radioactive – and will be for at least 1,500 years. They are stored in lead-lined boxes
at the National Library of France.

Favourite Marie Curie Quotes

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.”

“I am among those who think that science has great beauty.”

A Short Biography of Marie Curie

Marie Curie was born Maria Sklodowska in 1867 in Warsaw, Poland – the youngest of five children. Her father was a science
teacher and her mother a headmistress. Maria excelled at school, but Poland was under Russian rule – the Polish language was
banned and women could not go to university.

Marie’s family fell on hard times when her father lost his job. Then her sister Zofia died from typhus, and, when Maria was just 10,
her mother died from tuberculosis. Maria became a governess to support herself, but she made a pact with her sister Bronislawa
– Maria would pay for Bronislawa’s studies at the University of Paris and Bronislawa would then support Maria, too.

When Bronislawa became a doctor (unusual for women of the time), 24-year-old Maria moved to Paris to study, working as a
tutor at night to get by. From then on, she used the French spelling of her name – Marie.

Marie gained a Physics degree in 1893 and began working in a laboratory. But she kept studying, and gained a Maths degree the
following year. As a woman, she couldn’t work at a Polish university, so she remained in France. She began working at the same
laboratory as Pierre Curie. The pair married in 1895 and went on to have two children together – Irene (1897) and Eve
(1904). Marie became a physics teacher and the couple continued their research at night.

Marie was attracted to the work of two scientists in particular – Roentgen (who discovered X-rays) and Becquerel (who discovered
rays given off by uranium). Marie noticed that a mineral called pitchblende (containing uranium ore) was more radioactive than pure
uranium. She realised another element must be present. She and Pierre spent many hours grinding, dissolving, filtering and
crystallising pitchblende and eventually isolated two highly radioactive substances – one they called polonium (after Marie’s
homeland), the other radium (the Latin for ‘ray’).

Marie was a woman of many ‘firsts’. When she, Pierre and Becquerel were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their work on
radioactivity, Marie was the first woman to win the award. That same year she became the first woman in France to gain a PhD.
Three years later, Pierre was tragically run over by a carriage and killed. Despite her grief, Marie took over his role asProfessor of
Physics (the first woman teacher at the University of Paris). Then in 1911, she won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for creating a
way to measure radioactivity –the first person (and only woman) to win the award in two disciplines.

When doctors discovered radiation could kill cancer cells, new research centres opened under Marie’s direction. During the First
World War, Marie also developed mobile X-ray units that she drove to field hospitals, to find the fractures, bullets and shrapnel in
soldiers’ wounds. The trucks were known as ‘petites Curies’ (little Curies).

After the war, Marie continued her research and teaching work. She also founded Curie Institutes in Paris and Warsaw, which
are still major cancer research centres today. Marie died in 1934 from leukemia caused by overexposure to radiation. She was 66.
In 1995, she and Pierre were reburied in the Panthéon in Paris (a tomb of honour) – fittingly, the first woman to be given this
accolade.