Marie Curie Sklodowska

Ability
Your best mine produces science equal to its level.

Your best lab gives you strength equal to its level.

Sklodowska produces culture equal to the better of these two.

Marie Curie in History
The Atomic Age changed the course of technology development forever, and we have Marie Curie Sklodowska to thank for that. Born in Warsaw, this polish scientist was a very talented, hardworking and smart kid. She was always top of her class, and when she was denied studying science in Poland, she moved to France and got not one, but two degrees at the Sorbonne university.

Believing that scientific discoveries should serve humanity, she dedicated her life to extensive radioactivity research. For her contribution to science, she was awarded several prizes, and her success was recognized internationally. And remember our guy, Nobel? Well, guess what - Sklodowska was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize, the first person to receive it twice and the first person to receive it in two different fields! But even after all these accomplishments, Marie remained unspoiled by fame, and she stayed humble until her death from exposure to radiation.

Designer's Note
When starting to work on the expansion, Marie Curie Sklodowska was one of the first leaders I knew I am going to include - one of the greatest minds of 20th century definitely deserves it.

From the very start, I knew her effect will be tied to the level of your mining technologies, it was good both for the gameplay (advanced mining technologies might need some boost), and it was also a nice thematic fit (she would be hardly researching radioactivity if humankind can’t mine advanced materials). I experimented with some “moral dilemmas” - in one version, you could decide between significant military bonus if you keep her research for yourself, or a cultural bonus if you share with others. It didn’t work as cool as it sounds, thought :).

In the end, I went with the current ability - Marie Curie is rewarding late economic play, giving noticeable scientific and military boost, as well as reasonable amount of culture to those who develop their nations in all areas even in the third age.