scijessreads

The Elements of Marie Curie is for anyone interested in the history of science, the trailblazing women of science, or curious about the process involved in making scientific discoveries. Marie Curie is a name that many of us know from school, but we rarely learn more than the fact that she discovered radium. In reality, she was a bigger scientific powerhouse than textbooks lead us to believe.

Dava Sobel has crafted a timeline of the life of one of the great minds of science. From her early days as a student to her later years of carrying the mantle of discovery and progress, Marie’s life is a treatise on how women were viewed in science, and how much they contributed to the body of knowledge we rely upon today. The sheer number of female scientists that worked in her (and Pierre’s) lab, and then later went on to continue their own research is astounding, and something that is not often reflected on. It was also fascinating to see the changes in the handling of radioactive materials that occurred even over Marie’s own lifetime.

The story here is Marie’s, but it is also framed by the people (the women) who came into her space in Paris and their own discoveries under her mentorship. We get a picture of the “boys club” of science, and what Marie had to go through to get her research presented. We also see into her home life, her love for Pierre and their two daughters (who become significant in their own right). We see her deep ties to Poland and her family, and the human person behind the celebrated historical figure.

I read this as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own. The book is out now.