Madame Curie

1938

Medical Storage WZ100 C975

London: William Heinemann

Physicist Marie Curie (1867-1934) was born Marya Skoldowska in Poland. Initially educated in Warsaw, she attended the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1903, Curie won her first Nobel Prize (the first woman to do so), alongside her husband, Pierre, and a colleague, Henri Becquerel, for their researches into radiation. During her career, Curie also lectured at the Sorbonne; won another Nobel Prize – this time solo in 1911; and trained radiographers for WWI. She continued her studies into radium and radioactivity her whole life, all the while refusing to accept the dangers of radiation. This biography, written by her daughter Eve, paints Curie as a highly intelligent, selfless woman, who eschewed fame and fortune for the greater good. Curie, of course, died of radiation poisoning.