Marie Curie by Kathleen Krull Read Free Book Online

light and were able to penetrate thick barriers. “Alpha rays” were more powerful particles, yet were slower and heavier and could be more easily deflected, even by something as simple as a thick layer of aluminum foil.
    Rutherford complained, “I have to publish my present work as rapidly as possible in order to keep in the race” against the “best sprinters,” meaning, above all, the Curies.
    Meanwhile, the question came up about whether Marie and Pierre would apply for a patent for producing radium. If they kept the secret to themselves, they stood to make a lot of money. No longer on the edge of poverty as they had been during the first five years of their marriage, the Curies were far from rich. All her life Marie saved string, recycled cardboard to write notes on, patched umbrellas to make them last longer, wore dresses until they were threadbare.
    But they both vetoed the patent idea. Although aware she was “sacrificing a fortune,” Marie believed it “would be contrary to the scientific spirit.” Early on she theorized that radium’s best use would be medical, and “it seems to me impossible to take advantage of that.” Marie and Pierre believed their findings should be available to everyone.
    At the same time they were doing their historic work, the Curies were both teaching in order to bring in money. Pierre began teaching at the Sorbonne. He was a gifted teacher, conveying his enthusiasm and having “the laugh of a child,” according to one student. Marie was appointed to the faculty at the premier school for training teachers, in Sèvres, France. The first woman ever. As the lecturer in physics, she was surprisingly awkward at first. Her speaking style was intense, but monotonous.
    Curiously, at this point in their lives, they both found time to attend several séances, particularly with a famous Italian “medium.” Like some other scientists of the day, the Curies kept an open mind about spiritualism, the belief that communication with the dead was possible. They weren’t interested in contacting any dead person in particular, they just wanted to explore the possibilities. “It is human nature to believe that the phenomena we know are the only ones that exist,” Marie wrote, “and whenever some chance discovery extends the limits of our knowledge we are filled with amazement.” She was talking about radioactivity, but she could almost have been talking about the supernatural: “We cannot become accustomed to the idea that we live in a world that is revealed to us only in a restricted portion of its manifestations.”
    At séances they took notes, like the good scientists they were. Objects flew around in the air, unseen hands pinched them, and ghosts seemed to appear from nowhere. Pierre, in fact, was starting to spend more time studying the paranormal than anything else. He wondered if it had a relationship to radioactivity—could communication with the dead be another form of energy, one that would possibly reveal radioactivity’s source of energy? This line of speculation led to no conclusions.
    As a result of her traditional scientific research, Marie Curie received her doctorate in science from the Sorbonne in 1903—the first woman in France to be awarded one in any subject. According to her examination committee, Marie’s findings represented the greatest scientific contribution ever made in a doctoral thesis.
    At a celebration dinner that night, with several noted scientists attending, Pierre toasted Marie with a glass tube of radium salt in a solution. (He did not drink it, if you’re wondering!) Outside in the garden, the tube became luminous, glowing against the darkening sky, illuminating Marie’s happy face and also his own burned, permanently scarred fingers.
    Theirs was a rare partnership, luminous itself. As Frederick Soddy, another brilliant physicist competing with them, was later to say, “Pierre Curie’s greatest discovery was Marie. . . . Her greatest discovery