The ''Marie Skłodowska-Curie Medallion'' is one panel from a set of four created by Jozef C. Mazur. It honors

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

and currently resides in the Polish Room at the

University at Buffalo Libraries The University at Buffalo Libraries is the university library system of the University at Buffalo. The library's collections includes some 3.8 million print volumes, as well as media, and special collections. The Libraries subscribe to some 350 re ...

History

On August 3, 1955, the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

created the Polish Room. Polish-American artist Jozef C. Mazur was hired to plan and decorate the room. Items included a set of four

stained-glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

medallion A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

s depicting famous Poles. At some point between the founding and when the Polish Room was moved in 1978, the medallions went missing. In 2007 the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Medallion was found for sale on

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alumnus Gregory Witul. Witul was able to coordinate the return of the medallion to the University. A formal re-dedication was held on November 4, 2007. On April 6, 2008 Witul received the Am-Pol Eagle Citizen of the Year Award for Heritage for finding and coordinating the return of the medallion and Peter Miecyjak received the

Am-Pol Eagle Citizen of the Year Award The Am-Pol Eagle Citizen of the Year Award is given out by the weekly Polish American newspaper the ''Am-Pol Eagle''. The award is given to individuals and organizations in the Polish American community "in recognition of outstanding service and uns ...

for Youth in part for organizing the re-dedication.

References

Polish-American history Stained glass windows Cultural depictions of Marie Curie {{Glass-art-stub