An amazing first-person account of the brilliant scientist remembered for her radio active discoveries and diligence and perseverance in the face of tremendous discrimination and hardship. Autographed material of Curie is rare with such content.
Polish-born French physicist (1867-1934), she and her husband Pierre discovered two new elements, polonium and radium, in 1898. In 1903 she was awarded the Nobel Prize and in 1911 she won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, giving her the distinction of being the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice. She died of leukemia brought about by her work with radioactive material. ALS in French, signed “M. Curie,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.25 x 7.25, December 11, 1903. Letter to an unidentified gentleman, most likely for an article about her, as Curie has included autobiographical information. In full (translated): “I have no good photographs at this moment. We have given away several which have appeared in the newspapers but the[sic] are generally very bad. I had my photograph taken two days ago at Piron, Boulevard St. Germain in Pari, and you can get them at that shop but not for another week. As for my biography, it has never been published. I am told that a fairly exact article on us appeared in the ‘Temps’ yesterday or the day before.
Here is some information; I originally come from Poland, from Warsaw. I studied in a Lycee in the town and was the daughter of a schoolmaster. I lived in my country giving lessons. then I went to Paris in 1891 to take higher studies at the Sorbonne. I took this course for 3 years and obtained the degree of 'licientiate' of physics and mathematical science. I worked at the same time in the physics laboratory of M. Lippmann at the Sorbonne.
I married M. Curie in 1895 and since that time I have worked with hin [sic] at the College of Physic and Chemistry of Paris. We have one child, a girl of 6, names Irene In 1903 (june) I obtained the degree of Doctor of Science at the Faculty of Science of Paris, and for 3 years i taught physics at a higher school for young girls at Sevres near Paris. I am not the only one of my family who has taken a degree. One of my sisters is a Doctor of Medecine, she lives in Austrian Poland, but she also studied in Paris.” After her signature, Curie adds, “I have published a work on ‘the magnetic properties of tempered steel’ and a dissertation ‘On radioactive substances’ which I presented as a Thesis at the Faculty of Science to obtain my Doctor's degree.” In fine condition, with central horizontal and vertical fold, one through first letter of signature, and some scattered light toning and soiling.
Pierre and Marie Curie first learned they had won the Nobel Prize in Physics in mid-November 1903, with the awards ceremony taking place on December 10—one day before this letter was written. Neither of the Curies attended, as Pierre was ill and overwhelmed with teaching duties, and Marie was recovering from a miscarriage. The couple found the award to be a mixed blessing, aiding them financially but at the same time exposing them to international acclaim and scrutiny.
It was under this setting that Curie sent this message, for the first time—but certainly not the last—recounting her personal and professional life for strangers. Marie later wrote that 'the overturn of our voluntary isolation was a cause of real suffering for us.’ In addition to her 1903 Nobel Prize, she would receive the 1911 award in Chemistry. Her accomplishments would continue to mount after this letter was written, as after her husband’s death in 1906, the Sorbonne offered her Pierre Curie’s post in the physics department, making her their first female professor. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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