Maggie Gyllenhaal: 2011 World Science Festival

Maggie Gyllenhaal attends the opening night gala celebration of the 2011 World Science Festival on Wednesday (June 1) in New York City.

During opening night, a reading of Alan Alda’s new play, Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie kicked off the gala. Maggie replaced the previously announced Meryl Streep, and stepped into the role of Marie Curie, one of the most accomplished and revered scientists in history.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Marie Curie’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry—she received the Nobel Prize in Physics eight years earlier—and so provides a fitting moment to salute her singular accomplishments, and more generally, the vital role of women in science.