Pierre Curie on Marie's Possible Radiation Exposure Exhaustion

CURIE, PIERRE. (1859-1906). French chemist; with his wife Marie, they shared the 1903 Nobel prize in physics with Antoine Henri Becquerel for researching and describing radioactivity. ALS. (“P. Curie”). 1p. Oblong 12mo. Paris, December 4, 1905. On the letterhead of his university laboratory. (Possibly to Paul-Emile Appell (1855-1930), French mathematician and rector of the University of Paris.) In French with translation.



“My dear President,



I will be happy to attend the banquet organized by the association on December 7. Madame Curie is somewhat tired these days and will not attend.



I sincerely thank you for your invitation and trust that I remain your very devoted...”



During Curie’s early research in the areas of crystallography, he discovered piezoelectricity with his brother Jacques, and went on to explore the relationship between magnetic properties and temperature. For his research, the temperature at which magnetic materials undergo a change in their magnetism is called the “Curie point.” Pierre met fellow physicist Marie Sklodowska (1867-1934), in 1894, and after their marriage he joined her in her research, during which they discovered the radioactive elements polonium and radium in 1898. “Their work in this era formed the basis for much of the subsequent research in nuclear physics and chemistry. Together they were awarded half of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 on account of their study into the spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who was awarded the other half of the Prize,” (“Pierre Curie,” https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/pierre-curie/biographical/). An aversion to publicity, the pressing demands of their research and ill health which both Curies experienced due to their exposure to radiation kept them from traveling to Stockholm to deliver the customary Nobel Prize lecture until June 1905.



The accidental death of Pierre in 1906 was a tragedy from which Marie never fully recovered. Not only had she lost her husband, but also her closest collaborator and dearest friend. Indeed, nearly a quarter-century later, she wrote, “I lost my beloved Pierre, and with him all hope and all support for the rest of my life,” (quoted in Marie Curie: A Life, Quinn). In mid-May 1906, barely one month after Pierre’s death, Marie was named his successor at the Sorbonne and, difficult though it was, resumed the work at which they had labored for more than a decade, becoming the pre-eminent female scientist, revered and respected the world over. She eventually died from leukemia caused by radiation exposure.



In addition to Pierre and Marie Curie becoming the first married couple to win the Nobel Prize, Marie was the first female winner and went on to win a second Nobel Prize in 1911 (the first person to win twice), their daughter Irène Joliot-Curie and her husband Frederic Joliot-Curie became the second couple to win the Nobel and Marie’s other son-in-law, Henry Labouisse, accepted the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of that year’s winner, UNICEF. As such, the Curie family is the most lauded family in the history of the Nobel Prize.



In near mint condition and rare. [Science & Medical]