Eminent Polish-French scientist (1867–1934) who won Nobel Prizes in Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911). Her discovery of the elements of radium and polonium and her subsequent experiments revolutionized the understanding of radioactivity and proved to be one of most far-reaching scientific developments of the twentieth century. Curie died of a blood disease brought about by the radioactivity of the elements she worked with regularly, whose deadly effects were then poorly understood. DS, in French, signed “M. Curie,” one page, 8.5 x 12.5, June 15, 1923. A partly printed carbon document issued by the Institut Du Radium, listing the amounts of radiation obtained from experiments performed on a sample of mesothorium mixed with radium. The document reads, in part (translated): “A platinum needle No. 43. The apparatus was brought by Radio Chimie who declare the active material contained in this apparatus is Mesothorium which perhaps has been mixed with an unspecified quantity of radium…. The radiation y of the apparatus is compared to the radiation Y of the radium standard of this laboratory…. The apparatus to which this certificate refers did not reach its radiation limit with regard to radium…. The radiation Y emitted at the exterior of the apparatus is equivalent to that of 5.88 milligrams of radium element.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds, a few wrinkles, and staple holes at upper left. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
