Marie Curie on 20-euro notes? A “Franco-Polish quarrel” resurfaces

“The centuries-old battle between Poland and France over the legacy of Marie Curie (née Sklodowska) has taken another turn,” writes Politico . And this time, it has a new theme: the future 20-euro banknotes. The European Central Bank (ECB) is working on new banknotes, the final choice of which will be confirmed in 2026. Among the options being discussed to highlight “European culture” – one of the two major themes chosen, along with “rivers and birds” – is a tribute to Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to date to have received a Nobel Prize in two different disciplines (chemistry and physics).

The scientist, who became a French citizen through her marriage to physicist Pierre Curie in 1895 and was born in Warsaw in 1867, was named Maria Sklodowska at birth. And, as the liberal Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza points out , Warsaw would like her Polish first name and maiden name to be highlighted on a possible banknote. So far, the title notes, the ECB has only mentioned the name “Marie Curie” in a press release issued on January 31, 2025.

“The European Commission has not collected the opinion of the Polish public [contrary to its own announcements],” regrets the journalist from Gazeta Wyborcza . In its Polish version, the ECB website does indeed display the scientist's first name in the original version, but not in other languages. Why is Maria becoming Marie again, the headline protests, when “Miguel de Cervantes did not suddenly become 'Michael' for the English, any more than Ludwig van Beethoven suddenly became 'Louis' for the French?”

As the influential online news site Onet points out , citing Polish MEP Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, “Maria had two surnames and used both […] she was proud [of her Polish roots] and often emphasized them.” The centrist MEP, who wrote an open letter to the ECB on the subject, suggests “bombarding the institution with emails” and sending it a petition, which has so far gathered nearly 7,500 signatures.

Although the MEP did receive a response from the ECB, this does not guarantee that the Polish name will prevail. Christine Lagarde, its president, has proposed writing “Marie Curie (née Sklodowska)” for the time being, as noted in another article in the daily Gazeta Wyborcza , which published her letter.

Gazeta Wyborcza , which is clearly following the case closely, quotes in a third article Tomasz Pospieszny, professor of chemistry at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and author of a biography (not translated) on the scientist. For the latter, even if Maria Sklodowska-Curie sometimes signed with a simple “Madame Curie”, “the note should absolutely bear the name Sklodowska-Curie”. However, he recommends leaving the choice of first name: Marie or Maria.

Janusz Lewandowski, former European Commissioner for Budget, emphasized the importance of this issue: “ This cannot go unnoticed. We have few big names,” he told the newspaper. This MEP had managed to win a previous battle with the European Commission, which ended up amending the name of its research grant program, which became “Maria Sklodowska-Curie Actions” in 2014. The newspaper also reports that the governor of the Polish central bank, Adam Glapinski, also pleaded with the ECB president to keep the original version of its name.

A Polish article on the pan-European news site Euronews perfectly sums up the Polish sentiment on this issue : “The replacement of the Polish name with its French version is not just a formal matter, but also has symbolic significance. It is a reminder that Poland's contribution to European history is underestimated.”