Yeah, they probably were too young to know anything about who Marie Curie was or about her contributions to science. My sister-in-law, who married my brother in the late 1960's taught me a lot about science and about Curie/The Radium poisoning she died from when I was a little girl, which is probably not the norm. My sister-in-law is 74 and retired, and I'm 58, and she's STILL sending me science-related information 🤭 That's why I love her so much. She's still a self-described Geek at her age.
As for what our future holds: Unless we get King tRump out of there before he completes another stolen 4 years in office, this country will not be the America we knew pre-tRumputin & tRumputinthuglicans and before the POP: Party of putin's arrival. It'll be a rapidly-deteriorating Banana Republic, with NO rule of law, NO safety net for the poor/sick/disenfranchised, and a PERMANENT party, the POP, running things forever. People talk a lot about Skid-Row here in California (Downtown Los Angeles), but this country nation-wide will be mirroring that. putin doesn't follow rules, and tRump will be on steroids if he's allowed to be the lawless, insane he is.
I keep telling myself that in the "Universe" WON'T allow the POP/orange, treasonous, putin-butt-kissing, racist, obese, menace to destroy our world which is EXACTLY what those wrecking-balls are doing.