Bronisława Dłuska
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Bronisława Dłuska (; ; 28 March 186515 April 1939) was a
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
, and co-founder and first director of
Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
's Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology. She was married to political activist
Kazimierz Dłuski Kazimierz Dłuski (; 1855–1930) was a Polish physician, and social and political activist. He was a member of the Polish Socialist Party. In later life, he was a founder and activist of many non-governmental organizations; he was the founder and ...
, and was an older sister of physicist
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 ...
.


Biography


Early life

Bronisława was born 28 March 1865 in Warsaw to Władysław Skłodowski and Bronisława Skłodowska, both of whom were teachers. The second eldest of five children, she had three sisters—Zofia,
Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer *Helena, mother of Constantine I Places Greece * Helena (island) Guyana * ...
, and
Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...
—and a brother, . On both the paternal and maternal sides, the family had lost their property and fortunes through patriotic involvements in Polish national uprisings aimed at restoring Poland's independence (the most recent had been the
January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...
of 1863–65). This left the subsequent generation to a difficult struggle to get ahead in life. Her paternal grandfather, , had been a respected teacher in
Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...
, where he taught the young
Bolesław Prus Aleksander Głowacki (20 August 1847 – 19 May 1912), better known by his pen name Bolesław Prus (), was a Polish novelist, a leading figure in the history of Polish literature and philosophy, as well as a distinctive voice in world lit ...
, who would become a leading figure in Polish literature. Her father, Władysław Skłodowski, taught mathematics and physics, and was also director of two Warsaw '' gymnasia'' for boys. After Russian authorities eliminated laboratory instruction from the Polish schools, he brought much of the laboratory equipment home, and instructed his children in its use. The father was eventually fired by his Russian supervisors for pro-Polish sentiments, and forced to take lower-paying posts; the family also lost money on a bad investment, and eventually chose to supplement their income by lodging boys in the house. Her mother, Bronisława, operated a prestigious Warsaw boarding school for girls; she resigned from the position after Maria was born. She died of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
in May 1878, when the young Bronisława was only 13 years old, leaving the teenager, now the eldest woman in the family, to care for Helena, Maria, and Józef. Less than three years earlier, Bronisława's older sister, Zofia, had died of
typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...
contracted from a boarder.


Education and life in Paris

In 1882 Bronisława graduated from secondary school with a gold medal. Unable to study at institutions of higher learning that did not admit women, she joined the underground Floating University, tutoring to fund her future studies. At age 19 she left for Paris, where she studied medicine at
the Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...
. Maria helped her sister financially, under an agreement that Maria would help Bronisława during her medical studies, in exchange for similar assistance when Maria went to study in Paris. In 1890 Bronisława graduated as a
gynaecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with ...
-
obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
and married political exile and fellow-physician
Kazimierz Dłuski Kazimierz Dłuski (; 1855–1930) was a Polish physician, and social and political activist. He was a member of the Polish Socialist Party. In later life, he was a founder and activist of many non-governmental organizations; he was the founder and ...
. The couple were active in the local community; she ran a medical clinic, many of her clients being workers and their families, and the couple's apartment functioned as a "culture salon" for Polish exiles, immigrants, and expatriates. At her sister's insistence, Maria joined the couple in Paris in 1891 to start her own studies at the Sorbonne. Maria lived with them for a time before renting a
garret A garret is a habitable attic, a living space at the top of a house or larger residential building, traditionally, small, dismal, and cramped, with sloping ceilings. In the days before elevators this was the least prestigious position in a bu ...
closer to the university than Bronisława's apartment - a one-hour carriage ride distant. Bronisława and Kazimierz had a daughter, Helena, in 1892, then a son, Jakub, a few years later.


Return to Poland

She and Kazimierz returned to Poland in 1898 to set up a pulmonological sanitarium in the southern,
Tatra Mountains The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak language, Slovak () or in Polish language, Polish () - ''plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovak ...
resort town of
Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been par ...
. Kazimierz was not permitted to travel to the Russian partition of Poland. Beginning in early August 1914, one of Zakopane's notable
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
visitors was the Polish-born English-language novelist
Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...
, who took refuge there with his family. The patriotic Bronisława Dłuska scolded him for using his great literary talent for purposes other than bettering the future of his native Poland, which Conrad had left at age 16.
Zdzisław Najder Zdzisław Najder (; 31 October 1930 – 15 February 2021) was a Polish literary historian, critic, and political activist. He was primarily known for his studies on Joseph Conrad, for his periods of service as political adviser to Lech Wałęsa ...
, ''Joseph Conrad: A Life'', 2007, p. 44.
After
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
regained its independence, and Kazimierz joined the Polish delegates at the 1919
Versailles Peace Conference The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...
. Now free to return to a Warsaw no longer under Russian rule, the Dłuskis set up a tuberculosis
preventorium A preventorium was an institution or building for patients infected with tuberculosis who did not yet have an active form of the disease. Popular in the early 20th century, preventoria were designed to isolate these patients from uninfected indivi ...
in the Warsaw suburb of Anin. Following the successful opening of the first Radium Institute in Paris in 1918, Maria, now known by her adopted French given name of ''Marie'', began work setting up a second Radium Institute in Warsaw. Building began in 1925 with the laying of the foundation stone of the Warsaw Radium Institute, with Bronisława to be its director. She supervised the construction and recruitment, while Marie raised funds in the United States and elsewhere, and despite the death of Kazimierz in 1930, Bronisława continued to run and oversee the creation of the facility. On 29 May 1932, the Institute was officially opened, with Bronisława as the first director.


Death

On 15 April 1939, Bronisława died of natural causes, aged 74. She is interred in the family tomb with her parents, her sisters (Zofia and Helena) and her brother (Józef).


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dluska, Bronislawa Polish obstetricians and gynaecologists Polish oncologists Polish women physicians People from Warsaw Governorate Physicians from Warsaw 1865 births 1939 deaths