The elements of Marie Curie : how the glow of radium lit a path for women in science Cover Image

Book

The elements of Marie Curie : how the glow of radium lit a path for women in science / Dava Sobel.

Summary:

""Even now, nearly a century after her death, Marie Curie remains the only female scientist most people can name," writes Dava Sobel at the opening of her shining portrait of the sole Nobel laureate decorated in two separate fields of science--Physics in 1903 with her husband Pierre and Chemistry by herself in 1911. And yet, Sobel makes clear, as brilliant as she was in the laboratory, Marie Curie was equally memorable outside it. Grieving Pierre's untimely death in 1906, she took his place as professor of physics at the Sorbonne; devotedly raised two brilliant daughters; drove a van she outfitted with X-ray equipment to the front lines of World War I; befriended Albert Einstein and other luminaries of twentieth-century physics; won support from two US presidents; and inspired generations of young women the world over to pursue science as a way of life." --Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9780802163820
ISBN: 0802163823
Physical Description: xiii, 318 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations ; 24 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : Atlantic Monthly Press, 2024.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-302) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Formula for an icon: Marie Curie (1867-1934) -- Part one: School of Physics and Chemistry, 42 Rue Lhomond, Paris. MANYA (Hydrogen) ; MARIE (Iron) ; MADAME CURIE (Tungsten and Molybdenum) ; PIERRE (Uranium) ; ANDRÉ (Actinium) ; EUGÉNIE (Radiotellurium) -- Part two: Sorbonne Annex, 12 Rue Cuvier. HARRIET (Emanation) ; ELLEN (Copper and Lithium) ; LUCIE (Helium) ; SYBIL (Thorium) ; EVA (Radium) ; JADWIGA and IRÉN (Gold) ; HERTHA (Carbon) ; SUZANNE (Platinum and Iridium) ; MAURICE (Ionium) -- Part three: The Radium Institute: Curie Laboratory, 1 Rue Pierre-Curie. IRÈNE (Lead) ; MARTHE (Chlorine) ; MADELEINE (Radioneon) ; LÉONIE (Oxygen) ; MISSY (Silver) ; CATHERINE (Mesothorium) ; FRÉDÉRIC (Radon) -- Part four: Large-scale production facility, Arcueil. ALICJA (Polonium) ; ÉLIANE (Polonium bis) ; ANGÈLE (Bismuth) ; ISABELLE and ANTONIA (Thallium) ; BRANCA (Boron) ; WILLY (Beryllium) ; MARIE-HENRIETTE, MARIETTA, et al. (Aluminum) ; ÈVE (Radiophosophorus) -- Epilogue: MARGUERITE (Francium) -- The radioactivists.