Individuals don't exist in isolation. When you are associating results of individuals with a nation you are acknowledging that the farmer, the truck driver, the grocery store employee, the construction workers, etc all contributed their part to society that enabled the result of that individual.

This article is associating the success of Marie Curie with the group of women that supported her directly. Nations are just large groups of people.

When an individual claims to have done everything on his own it reeks of narcissism. A lot of wealthy people never talk about the support they have received and claim their individuality to be the sole reason of success even when their wealth was built on the backs of millions.