Marie Curie

About Marie Curie

Marie Curie, a towering figure in the history of science, earned her rank as the #27 most historically important figure through groundbreaking work in physics and chemistry. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields—Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911). Her pioneering research on radioactivity fundamentally altered our understanding of matter and paved the way for advancements in medicine and atomic theory.

Despite this immense historical weight, Curie’s modern internet attention, measured by 2.8 million annualized Wikipedia views in 2025, suggests an ongoing attention gap. Her importance index of #27 is significantly offset by figures who receive far more traffic; for instance, she receives less than one-third the views of Bob Dylan (#736 importance) and substantially fewer than contemporary political figures. This highlights a notable overattention to modern personalities relative to her historical impact, reflected in her Attention Gap score of +3x, indicating a greater online presence than her historical ranking might suggest she commands.

However, the momentum data indicates a recent dip, with a -13.2% year-over-year decline in views and a -6% drop between Q1 and Q3 of 2025, suggesting that while she is still viewed frequently, the downward trend indicates a gradual slippage in active contemporary engagement.