Marya Sklodowska Curie (b. 1867), known as Marie Curie, was a Polish-French physicist and chemist. Marie is probably best remembered for being the only woman to win two Nobel Prizes: in 1903, Marie and her husband Pierre Curie won the Nobel Prize in Physics, for their studies of radiation; and in 2011, Marie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for her discovery of the radioactive elements polonium and radium.
Marie Curie
Marie's scientific accomplishments at a time when it was very difficult for women to climb the ladder of success were truly remarkable. Equally impressive was Marie's determination to help other female researchers achieve their goals. In this book, award-winning science writer Dava Sobel provides an in-depth overview of Marie Curie's life and work, and highlights the women whose lives Marie touched.
Marya, the youngest of five children, was born into a scholarly family in Poland. Marya's father, Wladislaw, taught math and physics, and her mother, Bronislawa, was headmistress of an academy for girls. Marya loved to enjoy the outdoors and dance and party, but when her family was in financial need, young Marya gave private lessons in French, arithmetic, and geometry and worked as a governess......all while continuing her own studies in chemistry.
Wladislaw Sklodowski with his daughters Marya, Bronya, and Helena
Marya moved to Paris in 1891, and enrolled in the Faculté des Sciences, signing in as Marie Sklodowska. Marie went on to study the magnetic properties of steel, at which time she met a young physicist who was already well-grounded in the subject. The scientist was Pierre Curie, "a tall young man with auburn hair and large limpid eyes." It was kismet, because Marie and Pierre wed in 1895, then "rode off on bicycles to honeymoon among the fishing villages of Brittany."
Marie and Pierre Curie
Sobel did extensive research for this narrative, and she writes a good deal about the Curies' personal and professional lives, including their domestic arrangements; day to day activities; visits to and from family members; correspondence with friends and relatives; work trips; vacations; employment; research; illnesses; and ;more.
Marie and Pierre Curie
When Pierre became a professor at an industrial school, Marie was allowed to move her magnetized steel project into the facility, where she had the use of ovens, baths, batteries, galvanometers, and other apparatus. Sobel writes, "Soon Marie could document which samples - that is, which chemical recipe for steel - acquired the greatest magnetic strength." This was important because magnets were used in navigational compasses, telegraphs, streetcars, elevators, tools, and myriad other devices.
In 1897, the Curies' daughter Irène was born, and the parents celebrated with champagne.
Marie and Pierre Curie with their daughter Irène
Marie was soon back at work, and she published a paper about magnetized steel that earned her 1,500 francs. Later, British industrialist Rookes Compton wrote: "All instrument-makers are deeply indebted to Marie Curie for the excellent work she has published in regard to the saturation and persistence of magnetism in steel bars."
Marie decided to change direction for her doctoral research, and embarked on a study of 'uranic rays' (radiation), the energy exuded by uranium. Marie quantified the uranic rays by measuring the electrical conductivity they excited in the air around them. Pierre joined Marie in the radiation studies, and after EXTENSIVE research - which is well documented in the book - the Curies' claimed there were four 'radioelements' - uranium, thorium, polonium, and radium....though most scientists only recognized the first two. By now Marie was also teaching at the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles.
Marie and Pierre Curie collaborated on their studies of radioactivity
Like many early scientists who studied radiation, Marie and Pierre were unaware of the danger, and "often found that the palms of their hands flaked and peeled in response to handling radioactive products, and the tips of their fingers hardened painfully for weeks or months at a time." And these were only the external effects; extensive exposure to radiation also causes anemia, leukemia, and other serious ailments. On the upside, doctors soon hit on using radiation to treat skin diseases and cancerous tumors.
In 1902, Marie and Pierre were awarded the Nobel Prize for their radiation studies, alongside Henri Becquerel, who discovered radioactivity and X-rays. The Nobel Prize made the Curies famous, and the Sorbonne created a professorial chair in physics for Pierre, and provided a laboratory for Marie.
Nobel Prize
Marie Curie's first radioactivity laboratory was a barebones facility
In 1904, the Curies second daughter, Ève, was born, but tragedy followed soon afterward. In 1906, Pierre was hit by a wagon and killed. Marie was bereft, and dealt with her grief by crying, writing letters to Pierre, speaking to him, and keeping a grief journal.
Marie Curie with her daughters Irène and Ève
After Pierre's death, the Sorbonne selected Marie to assume her husband's duties, and she became a physics professor and laboratory director. Marie accepted an accomplished young woman scientist, Canadian-born Harriet Brooks, to study radioactivity at the Sorbonne lab. Harriet was the first of many women to work with Marie, and Sobel makes it a point to laud all the ladies, with mini-biographies and descriptions of their research.
Of course, many male scientists - such as Ernest Rutherford, Wilhelm Roentgen and others - also worked on radioactivity, and these men get their due credit as well.
In the late 19th century, Mendeleev's periodic table of the elements - which hangs in every science classroom - had blank spaces, and the Curies suspected that new substances would emerge to fill the vacant spots - two of them being radium and polonium (named for Marie's native country of Poland).
The Curies had been extracting 'mere wisps' of radium and polonium from pitchblende, but had too little to determine their atomic weight. Thus many scientists doubted they were real elements. Marie continued to extract the substances, and her consequent isolation of radium and polonium won her the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Commemorative Stamp
It was around this time that a scandal erupted surrounding Marie's affair with physicist Paul Langevin, who was trapped in an unhappy marriage. The romance cast a blight on Marie's reputation, which slowly rebounded when the dalliance ended. Of course Paul received little blame. Speaking of male privilege, it should be pointed out that, despite Marie's many accomplishments, the Académie des Sciences - all of whose members were men - repeatedly refused to elect Marie to their ranks. No women allowed!
Paul Langevin
Besides being a brilliant scientist, Marie was an ardent patriot. When World War I broke out in 1914, Marie decided to make herself useful by tending the wounded. Marie knew that, "for the first time in the history of warfare, it would be possible to see inside an injured body with X-rays, to locate the lead bullets and fragments of bombs that lodged there." By now, X-ray machines were used at most hospitals, and mobile X-ray units could (presumably) travel to facilities that treated wounded soldiers.
Marie raised money to procure and equip such vehicles, called voiture radiologique (X-ray truck), and she traveled to field hospitals to X-ray wounded men, so surgeons could remove bullets and shrapnel, set broken limbs, etc.
Marie Curie in a voiture radiologique
Marie also arranged for the training of men and women to be X-ray operators, each class of twenty taking a six-week curriculum of anatomy, electricity, measurement of electric current and potential, electromagnetic induction, theory and function of X-ray tubes and valves, and methods of examination by radioscopy and radiography.
After the war, Marie was in demand to visit, lecture, and attend meetings all over the world. As a result, Marie's life became a whirlwind of research, writing, travel, and meeting people. In America, for instance, Marie met President Warren Harding, secretaries of the cabinet, justices of the Supreme Court, foreign diplomats, and high-ranking officers of the army and navy.
Marie Curie with President Warren Harding
Through it all Marie remained humble. American physicist Bertram Boltwood remarked, "I saw the Madame first at a luncheon given in her honor in New York....Then I saw her again at New Haven when she came for Commencement....[Alois] Kovarick and I had her for a couple of hours at the Sloane Laboratory....She was very modest and unassuming, and she seemed frightened at all the fuss the people made over her."
Marie Curie at a commencement ceremony
Meanwhile Marie's health, which was poor for years, continued to decline. Sobel writes, "By now it seemed likely that a few of Marie's bodily ills...were due at least in part to excessive radiation exposure." In 1934, Marie developed persistent fever and chills and was sent to Sancellemoz sanitarium for treatment. When Marie arrived at the hospital, her fever reached 104 degrees; her red and white blood-cell counts plummeted; and she died on July 4. Marie's doctor reported that "the disease was an aplastic pernicious anemia...the bone marrow did not react, probably because it had been injured by a long accumulation of radiation."
Marie was survived by her two daughters. Like their parents, Irène and Ève Curie achieved great success. Irène became a renowned scientist and Nobel Prize winner; and Ève achieved fame as a pianist, journalist, and writer. Both girls were close to their mother for their entire lives, and Sobel documents this with snippets from their letters, and descriptions of their journeys, holidays, activities, and more.
Marie Curie with her daughters Irène and Ève
Irène Joliot-Curie with her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie
Ève Curie
At the end of the book, Sobel includes five addendums.
⦾ The Radioactivists - a list of the scientists who studied radioactivity, including date of birth; spouse; date of death; and cause of death.
⦾ Annotations - bits of extra information for each chapter.
⦾ Glossary - definitions of terms.
⦾ The Radioactive Decay Series - half-lives of radioactive elements.
⦾ Quotation Sources - the source of Sobel's quotes.
I liked the book, which is filled with information about physicists, chemists, atoms, molecules, radiation, radioactive decay, half-lives, and more. I think people interested in science would be the natural audience for this book.
Thanks to Netgalley, Dava Sobel, and Atlantic Monthly Press for a copy of the book.
Rating: 4.5 stars
