This Upper East Side Street Has A New Name

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Officials unveiled a street sign honoring Nobel Prize-winning scientist Marie Sklodowska-Curie Tuesday at East 66th Street and York Avenue, near Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

The New York City Council and the Consulate General of Poland in New York held the ceremony on the eve of Poland’s Independence Day.

The city previously honored her with Marie Curie Avenue along the East River, but that street disappeared during waterfront roadway development.

"Today, we restore her legacy to Manhattan’s map for good, and with it, honor the over 200,000 Polish-Americans who call New York City home," City Council Speaker Julie Menin said.

Born in Warsaw, Sklodowska-Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize and the first person to win Nobel Prizes in two scientific disciplines. She received the physics prize in 1903 and the chemistry prize in 1911.

The unveiling came 105 years after Sklodowska-Curie’s first visit to the United States.

During that 1921 visit, she was welcomed at Carnegie Hall and visited Memorial Hospital, the predecessor of today’s Memorial Sloan Kettering.

"Her discoveries continue to save lives," Mateusz Sakowicz, consul general of the Republic of Poland in New York, said. "She broke barriers, challenged stereotypes and became a role model for women everywhere – indeed, for all of us."

For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.