The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science
Dava Sobel, acclaimed and bestselling author of Longitude, chronicles the life and work of the most famous woman in the history of science – and the untold story of the young women who trained in her laboratory.
‘A luminous and illuminating contribution to the cause’ Literary Review
For decades Marie Curie was the only woman in the room at international scientific gatherings, and despite constant illness she travelled far and wide to share the secrets of radioactivity, a term she coined. She is still the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields.
Her ingenuity extended far beyond the laboratory walls; grieving the death of her husband, Pierre, she took his place as professor of physics at the Sorbonne, devotedly raised two daughters, drove a van she outfitted with x-ray equipment to the front lines of World War I, befriended Albert Einstein and inspired generations of young women to pursue science as a way of life.
Approaching Marie Curie from a unique angle, Sobel navigates her remarkable discoveries and fame alongside the women who became her legacy – from Norway’s Ellen Gleditsch and France’s Marguerite Perry, who discovered the element francium, to her own daughter, Irene, a Nobel Prize winner in her own right. The Elements of Marie Curie deftly illuminates the trailblazing life and enduring influence of one of the most consequential figures of our time.
‘A book for our times celebrating both science and women’ Sir Paul Nurse, geneticist and Nobel Prize winner
‘Hard to put down! A wonderfully written biography’ Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, astrophysicist
‘A lucid, literate biography, celebrating a scientific exemplar who, for all her fame, deserves to be better known’Kirkus
‘Of course, as Dava Sobel amply demonstrates in her warm, moving and effervescent biography, there is much more to Curie’s life than one staid paragraph … so long as women still battle to achieve equal status in science, Curie’s trailblazing life will remain a powerful inspiration. Sobel’s book is a luminous and illuminating contribution to the cause’Literary Review -
‘The Elements of Marie Curie beautifully illuminates the science and the scientists that Curie devoted her life to developing…Sobel gives us a chance to share in the excitement and delight of the work that made Curie and her dozens of scientific offspring glow so brightly’Nature -
”'Marie Curie is one of the greatest scientists of all time and a pioneer for women. In this book Dava Sobel has brought her and those she inspired to life, with her characteristic accessible and scholarly writing. A book for our times celebrating both science and women” - Sir Paul Nurse, geneticist and Nobel Prize winner
'Marie Skłodowska Curie was unique, but her influence irradiated the futures of 45 women who worked in her laboratory. By restoring these pioneers to visibility, acclaimed historian Dava Sobel casts fresh light on the life and achievements of the first scientist to win two Nobel prizes' Dr Patricia Fara, Emeritus Fellow, Clare College, University of Cambridge -
'Hard to put down! A wonderfully written biography of Marie Curie, that does not step away from the physics but also includes her life outside the lab, even including the black and white cat!' Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, astrophysicist -
‘[Dava] is skilled at explaining complex science clearly and has chosen an artful way to structure her material, emphasising the collision of science and biography by giving each chapter the name of a scientist and an element’Guardian -
‘Among the great delights of The Elements is how vividly Dava Sobel has touched in the warm-hearted ordinariness of the young Maria Sklodowska’The Tablet -