Publisher Description

The professional triumphs and personal struggles of a pioneering woman scientist. Marie Sklodowska Curie (18671934) was the first woman scientist to win worldwide acclaim and was, indeed, one of the great scientists of the twentieth century. Written by Curies daughter, the renowned international activist Eve Curie, this biography chronicles Curies legendary achievements in science, including her pioneering efforts in the study of radioactivity and her two Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry. It also spotlights her remarkable life, from her childhood in Poland, to her storybook Parisian marriage to fellow scientist Pierre Curie, to her tragic death from the very radium that brought her fame. Now updated with an eloquent, rousing introduction by best-selling author Natalie Angier, this timeless biography celebrates an astonishing mind and a extraordinary womans life.

Author Biography

Eve Curie Labouisse is the daughter of Maric and Pierre Curie. She has worked in human rights and diplomacy, traveling worldwide on behalf of NATO and the United Nations.

Review

"The actual record of Marie Curie's life is epic. Eve Curie writes that epic movingly." Chicago Tribune"

Kirkus US Review

Here is a book that might - through its very impersonality and objectivity - prove pedantic. Far from it - the very simplicity of the method gives dignity and beauty and drama to this biography of the most extraordinary woman of our generation. I found every page absorbingly interesting. The early part of the biography carries the reader into the home of her childhood; then one follows the difficult, poverty-striken years of adolescence and young womanhood, before her sister's marriage made it possible for her to carve her own career. And then the career is the story - the woman is science personified - her marriage, a too-brief glowing thing, brightens the early' years, but fame can do nothing to offset the supreme loss. Her younger daughter has shown Marie Curie as wife, mother - but first and last, scientist. Literary Guild choice for November. Sure to be a big seller. (Kirkus Reviews)

Review Quote

"The actual record of Marie Curie's life is epic. Eve Curie writes that epic movingly."-- Chicago Tribune

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