During his lecture, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said he felt a sudden sense of comfort after seeing a short animated film showing Marie Curie and her discovery of radiation.
The reason, he explained, was personal. “At the age of 18, I was diagnosed with oral cancer and given a 15% chance of living five years. Fortunately, I was able to beat cancer due to radiation therapy. If Marie Curie had not made her discovery, I would not be here today,” he said.
Sen, however, specified that he is going through a second bout of cancer. “This is a very different kind — prostate — and again the treatment is radiation, but the advances of science have made the treatment so precise in the decades since my (first) treatment,” he said. “If I can make a confession, I am hoping to win this one too,” he added.