Marie Curie and her daughters : the private lives of science's first family

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Title:

Marie Curie and her daughters : the private lives of science's first family

Author:

Emling, Shelley

ISBN:

9780230115712

Publication Information:

New York City : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Physical Description:

xx, 219 pages, [8] pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Contents:

Prologue -- An Absolutely Miserable Year -- Moving On -- Meeting Missy -- Finally, America -- The White House -- New and Improved -- Another Dynamic Duo -- Turning to America -- Again -- Into the Spotlight -- The End Of A Quest -- Tributes and New Causes -- All About Eve -- The Ravages Of Another World War -- Rough Waters -- The Legacy.

Personal Subject:

Curie, Marie, 1867-1934.

Curie, Marie, 1867-1934-Family.

Joliot-Curie, Irène, 1897-1956

Curie, Eve, 1904-2007.

Subject Term:

Women scientists -- Family relationships.

Mothers and daughters.

Women chemists -- Biography.

Women philanthropists -- Biography.

Women journalists -- Biography.

Summary:

"Marie Curie was the first person to be honored by two Nobel Prizes and she pioneered the use of radiation therapy for cancer patients. But she was also a mother, widowed young, who raised two extraordinary daughters alone: Irene, a Nobel Prize winning chemist in her own right, who played an important role in the development of the atomic bomb, and Eve, a highly regarded humanitarian and journalist, who fought alongside the French Resistance during WWII. As a woman fighting to succeed in a male dominated profession and a Polish immigrant caught in a xenophobic society, she had to find ways to support her research. Drawing on personal interviews with Curie's descendents, as well as revelatory new archives, this is a wholly new story about Marie Curie--and a family of women inextricably connected to the dawn of nuclear physics"--

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	920 EML	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	920 EML	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	920 EML	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

A new portrait of the two-time Nobel winner and her two daughters

Focusing on the first family in science, this biography of Marie Curie plumbs the recesses of her relationships with her two daughters, extraordinary in their own right, and presents the legendary scientist to us in a fresh way.

Although the common image is that of a shy introvert toiling away in her laboratory, highly praised science writer Shelley Emling shows how Marie Curie was nothing short of an iconoclast. Her affair with a younger and married man drew the enmity of a xenophobic French establishment, who denied her entry to the Academy of Sciences and tried to expel her from France. But she was determined to live life how she saw fit, and passed on her resilience to her daughters. Emling draws on personal letters released by Curie's only granddaughter to show how Marie influenced her daughters yet let them blaze their own paths. Irene followed her mother's footsteps into science and was instrumental in the discovery of nuclear fission. Eve traveled the world as a foreign correspondent and then moved on to humanitarian missions.

Emling also shows how Curie, following World War I, turned to America for help. Few people know about Curie's close friendship with American journalist Missy Meloney, who arranged speaking tours across the country for Marie and Eve and Irene. Months on the road, charming audiences both large and small, endeared the Curies to American women and established a lifelong relationship with the United States that formed one of the strongest connections of Marie's life. Without the financial supportof American women, Marie might not have been able to go on with her research.

Continuing the family story into the third generation, Emling also interviews Marie Curie's granddaughter Helene Joliot-Curie, who is an accomplished physicist in her own right. She reveals why her grandmother was a lot more than just a scientist and how Marie's trips to America forever changed her. Factually rich, personal and original, this is an engrossing story about the most famous woman in science that rips the cover off the myth and reveals the real person, friend, and mother behind it.

Author Notes

Shelley Emling has written for the The New York Times , USA Today, Fortune , Slate , The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London, The Huffington Post, FoxNews.com , Beliefnet.com , The Christian Science Monitor, and the International Herald Tribune . She launched one of the first blogs for The International Herald Tribune, called Raising the Roof. She is the author of the highly acclaimed The Fossil Hunter and lives in New Jersey.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Science writer Emling (The Fossil Hunter) reveals a hidden side of the life of two-time Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie, co-discoverer of radioactivity and the first to use it as an experimental treatment for cancer. Her plainly told tale relates Curie's struggles to balance her passion for discovery and arduous work as a scientist after her husband and collaborator Pierre's death with the equally challenging task of raising two daughters. Drawing on newly available letters between Marie and her daughters, and extensive interviews with Marie's granddaughter, Helene Langevin-Joliot, Emling shows Marie as a loving if often absent mother who encouraged her daughters to pursue their own ideas and passions. Her older daughter, Irene, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1935 for her work with her husband, Frederic, in developing synthetic radioactivity; Marie's younger daughter, Eve, had a flourishing career as an international journalist and humanitarian who in later life worked with UNICEF. In this admiring family tale, Emling also reveals for the first time the key role American journalist Missy Meloney played in first bringing Marie Curie on her first trip to America, where she was received by adoring crowds, and then helping spearhead campaigns to raise much needed money to support Marie's work. Photos. Agent: Agnes Birnbaum, Bleecker Street Associates. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

With her husband, Pierre, Marie Curie discovered the element radium. They were both awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, but she went on to win a prize in chemistry as well, becoming the only person to win two Nobel Prizes in different scientific fields. But after Pierre's death, with rampant chauvinism in the sciences, the two Nobels didn't keep her from struggling with massive financial insecurity and the challenges of raising two young daughters alone. In 1921, American journalist Missy Meloney arranged for a whirlwind tour of the U.S. by Curie and her daughters, raising funds to support Curie's institute in France. Her career boosted by the U.S. trip, Curie went on to support copyrights for scientists and to question the health hazards of working with radium. Drawing on family correspondence and interviews with Curie's granddaughter, Emling offers an engaging portrait of a fascinating woman and her relationships with her equally fascinating daughters, Irene, a Nobel-laureate chemist whose work led to the creation of the atom bomb, and Eve, who had a highly regarded career as a humanitarian and journalist.--Bush, Vanessa Copyright 2010 Booklist

Choice Review

A new twist to this latest biography of the eminent scientist Marie Curie is the examination of the life of the legendary discoverer of radium in the context of her family, particularly her daughters and granddaughter, and a discussion of her legacy to women in the sciences. Emphasizing Curie's emotional life and using a feminist perspective, Emling, a journalist and blogger, attempts to analyze the woman behind the Curie legend. Beginning with a prologue detailing the story of Curie's trip to America in 1921, describing it as "a fresh point of departure for the world's greatest scientist," Emling focuses on the individual accomplishments and complicated public persona of a woman who persevered in attempting to balance her personal life with her passion for science. Less comprehensive than Susan Quinn's Marie Curie: A Life (CH, Oct'95, 33-0905)--the first to be written after the scientist's papers were decontaminated and made publicly available--this volume includes remembrances and insights written by Marie Curie's daughter Irene and shared by Curie's only granddaughter, bringing the story into the 21st century. Useful for comprehensive collections in women's studies that focus on women's accomplishments in scientific fields. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. S. E. Wiegand Saint Mary's College

Library Journal Review

Freelance writer Emling (The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World) tells the story of science icon Marie Sklodowska Curie, a name familiar to most readers from elementary school days. The only person to have received Nobel prizes in two different sciences, Curie remains a hero to many. Emling writes here of Curie's later years and of her relationships with her daughters, topics not previously as well documented as the flashier (not to mention more radioactive) aspects of her life and scientific research. Curie's trips to the United States and her relationship with magazine editor and socialite Missy Meloney, who started a fund to buy radium for Curie, are covered here in both personal and professional terms. Emling presents a Curie defined not only by her scientific activities but also by her personality and by her relationships with family and friends after she gained international recognition. VERDICT Recommended for readers interested in the history of Western science, scientific biographies, and women in science, as well as those who regard Marie Curie as a hero.-Eric D. Albright, Tufts Univ. Lib., MA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Prologue America: A Fresh Point of Departure for the World's Greatest Scientist	p. xiii
Chapter 1 An Absolutely Miserable Year	p. 1
Chapter 2 Moving On	p. 15
Chapter 3 Meeting Missy	p. 31
Chapter 4 Finally, America	p. 45
Chapter 5 The White House	p. 59
Chapter 6 New and Improved	p. 73
Chapter 7 Another Dynamic Duo	p. 87
Chapter 8 Turning to America-Again	p. 101
Chapter 9 Into the Spotlight	p. 117
Chapter 10 The End of a Quest	p. 133
Chapter 11 Tributes and New Causes	p. 147
Chapter 12 All about Eve	p. 161
Chapter 13 The Ravages of Another World War	p. 175
Chapter 14 Rough Waters	p. 189
Chapter 15 The Legacy	p. 203
Selected Bibliography	p. 213
Index	p. 215

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review

Choice Review

Library Journal Review

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