The Curies

Denis Brian

Description

Focusing on the lives and relationships behind their magnificent careers, The Curies is the first biography to trace the entire Curie dynasty, from Pierre and Marie’s fruitful union and achievements to the lives and accomplishments of their two daughters, Irène and Eve, and son-in-law Frederic Joliot-Curie. Biographer Denis Brian digs deep beneath the headlines and legends to reveal the Curies’ multigenerational saga in its entirety, featuring new, never-before-published personal information as well as newly revealed correspondence and diary excerpts. Brimming with endearing and often amusing anecdotes about this much-misunderstood clan, The Curies reveals a family as closely intertwined in their private lives as they were in their professional endeavors.
Acknowledgments.

1. Pierre Curie.

2. Marie Salomea Sklodowska.

3. Pierre and Marie in Love.

4. Mutual Adoration.

5. Spirits, Radioactivity, and the Price of Fame.

6. Psychic Researchers.

7. Pierre Curie’s Last Day.

8. Rescuing Langevin from His Wife.

9. Battered by the Press.

10. Surgery and Suffragettes.

11. “Little Curies” and World War I.

12. A Gift of Radium from the United States.

13. Radium: Miracle Cure or Menace?

14. A Great Discovery—at Last.

15. Marie Curie’s Last Year.

16. Nobel Prizes, Spanish Civil War, and Fission.

17. France Defeated.

18. Joliot Keeps the Gestapo Guessing—Eve Curie Tours the Battlefronts.

19. Joliot Becomes a Communist—Eve Curie Interviews Nehru, Gandhi, and Jinnah.

20. The Battle for Paris.

21. Joliot’s Fight for Peace and Communism.

22. Joliot Launches Peace Offensive and Charges the United States with Using Germ Warfare in Korea.

23. The Curie Legacy.

Notes.

Selected Bibliography.

Index.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie
• List of Nobel laureates
• Marie Curie
• History
• Frédéric Joliot-Curie
• Pierre Curie

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 21 avril 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470307946
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THE CURIES
Also by Denis Brian
The Unexpected Einstein: The Real Man Behind the Icon
Pulitzer: A Life
Murderers and Other Friendly People: The Public and Private Worlds of Interviewers
The Enchanted Voyage: The Life of J. B. Rhine
The True Gen: An Intimate Portrait of Ernest Hemingway by Those Who Knew Him
Fair Game: What Biographers Don t Tell
Genius Talk: Conversations with Nobel Scientists and Other Luminaries
Einstein: A Life
THE CURIES
A Biography of the Most Controversial Family in Science
Denis Brian

John Wiley Sons, Inc.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright 2005 by Denis Brian. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
Photo Credits: Pages, 7 , 18 , 31 , 118 , 119 , 161 , 165 , 173 , 193 , 202 , 212 , 221 , 236 , 244 , 258 , 263 , 366 : Archives Curie and Joliot-Curie; page 66 : Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Photo: Henri Manuet, Paris; pages 182 right, 241 , 251 , 384 : Library of Congress; page 186 : Courtesy Robert Abbe; pages 260 , 315 : Courtesy Eve Curie Labouisse; page 285 : Franklin Roosevelt Library
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Brian, Denis, date.
The Curies : a biography of the most controversial family in science / Denis Brian.
p. cm.
ISBN-13 978-0-471-27391-2 (cloth)
ISBN-10 0-471-27391-0 (cloth)
1. Curie family. 2. Curie, Marie, 1867-1934. 3. Curie, Pierre, 1859-1906.
4. Chemists-Poland-Biography. 5. Chemists-France-Biography. 6. Physicists-France-Biography. I. Title.
QD22.C79B75 2005
540 .92 2-dc22
2005007001
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Martine, Danielle, Alex, and Emma with love.
And to the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) of Washington, D.C., with admiration.
Contents
Acknowledgments
1 Pierre Curie
2 Marie Salomea Sklodowska
3 Pierre and Marie in Love
4 Mutual Adoration
5 Spirits, Radioactivity, and the Price of Fame
6 Psychic Researchers
7 Pierre Curie s Last Day
8 Rescuing Langevin from His Wife
9 Battered by the Press
10 Surgery and Suffragettes
11 Little Curies and World War I
12 A Gift of Radium from the United States
13 Radium: Miracle Cure or Menace?
14 A Great Discovery-at Last
15 Marie Curie s Last Year
16 Nobel Prizes, Spanish Civil War, and Fission
17 France Defeated
18 Joliot Keeps the Gestapo Guessing-Eve Curie Tours the Battlefronts
19 Joliot Becomes a Communist-Eve Curie Interviews Nehru, Gandhi, and Jinnah
20 The Battle for Paris
21 Joliot s Fight for Peace and Communism
22 Joliot Launches Peace Offensive and Charges the United States with Using Germ Warfare in Korea
23 The Curie Legacy
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Eve Curie Labouisse and her niece, H l ne Langevin-Joliot, were of enormous help in making sure this account of the extraordinary Curie family was accurate, and made no attempt at censorship. Dr. Langevin-Joliot read and commented on every chapter and Mrs. Labouisse read and commented on most of the manuscript until-at one hundred years of age-her eyesight began to fail. Even so, she kindly and meticulously checked the chapter on her tour of the battlefronts during World War II when she interviewed three Indian leaders, Nehru, Gandhi, and Jinnah. Our agreement was that she would answer my questions but not comment on the book for publicity purposes. I contacted Mrs. Labouisse by phone and corresponded with her by mail. I corresponded with Dr. Langevin-Joliot by e-mail.
I also received valuable information from Robert Abbe, Monique Bordry, Pierre Radvanyi, Bertrand Goldschmidt, Georges Charpak, Sidney Hook, Spencer R. Weart, Arun Gandhi, John Campbell, Larry Grimm, Sharon Broom, R. H. Stuewer, George Dracoulis, Phillipe Burrin, Per F. Dahl, Shirley A. Fry, Stanley W. Pycior, Ruth Long, Barbara Wolff, Richard Evans, Robert McCabe, Elisabeth Crawford, Nathalie Huchette, Virginia Lewick, Ginette Gablot, Regis Babinet, Martha Chapin, Richard Fraser, Robert L. Wolker, Andy Oppenheimer, Diane E. Kaplan, Ben Stein, Joe Calabrise, Edward O Donnell, and Jack Eckert. Lenka Brochard supplied many of the photos from the Archives Curie and Joliot-Curie.
This biography was greatly enriched by the efforts of previous Marie Curie biographers: Eve Curie, Robert Reid, Rosalynd Pflaum, Susan Quinn, Fran oise Giroud, Nanny Froman, Naomi E. Pasachoff, Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, Karin Blanc, and Barbara Goldsmith. And of the major Fr d ric Joliot-Curie biographers: Michel Pinault, Maurice Goldsmith, and Pierre Biquard. Many thanks, too, to the helpful staffs at the Curie Museum and Archives, the Biblioth que Nationale, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the American Institute of Physics, Cambridge University, Columbia University, and Smith College.
I could not have hoped for a more caring, careful, and encouraging editor than Hana Lane, who edited my previous biographies, Einstein: A Life, Pulitzer: A Life , and The Unexpected Einstein: The Real Man Behind the Icon. My wife, Martine, my partner in much of the research, also translated the French, and her guiding hand is evident on every page.
CHAPTER 1
Pierre Curie
1859-1894
City workers in Paris removed a tree obscuring a view of Victor Hugo s home, placed baskets of flowers in front of it, decked the street with flags, and sanded it to prepare for a million marching feet. It was the writer s eightieth birthday in February 1881. Members of guilds carrying their banners gathered at the Arc de Triomphe before joining the enormous parade. The entire Sorbonne turned out, faculty and students. And each time the white-haired author appeared at his window he was greeted with a roar of approval.
In May of that same year, scientist and fellow Parisian Louis Pasteur achieved immortality and changed the course of medical history with a daring experiment on fifty sheep infected with the deadly anthrax. His successful work led to the birth of the sciences of immunology and bacteriology, whose advances have saved the lives of millions. Experiments were also under way in the Parisian art world. Claude Monet and Pierre Renoir, among others, tried to capture the effect of light on their subjects with short brush strokes and bright colors. Although critics dismissed their efforts as childish or myopic impressions of reality, the small band of artists pressed on to make the slur impressionist an accolade. No musician caused more of a stir in Paris at the time than Camille Saint-Saens, a short, ill-tempered dandy who spoke with a lisp and looked like a parrot. He composed operas, concertos, and symphonies, conducted orchestras, and gave piano and organ concerts. In his spare time he penned plays and poetry, and also studied astronomy, archaeology, and the occult.
Living in the same city as Hugo, Pasteur, Renoir, Monet, and Saint-Saens was a twenty-two-year-old physicist at the start of his career. Though Pierre Curie s achievements would eventually rival those of his remarkable compatriots in his own field, at that time he wondered if he could keep his modest job as a lab assistant. It seemed unlikely, judging by an entry in his diary. And, if it was a clue to his character, he was certainly in the wrong profession. He sounded more like a poet in distress heading for a breakdown than an experimental scientist on the way up. What shall I become? he wrote. Very rarely have I (complete) command of myself; ordinarily a part of me sleeps. My poor spirit, are you then so weak that you cannot control my body? Oh, my thoughts, you count indeed for very little! It seems to me that my mind gets clumsier every day. Before, I flung myself into scientific or other [diversions]; today they don t hold my interest. And I have so many, many things to do! Is my poor mind then so feeble that it cannot act upon my body? And Pride, Ambition-couldn t they at least propel me, or will they let me live like this? I should have the greatest confidence in the power of my imagination to pull myself out of this rut, but I greatly fear that my imagination is dead.
In her brief biography of Pierre, his widow, Marie, tried to explain this diary entry. She believed that when not