The Curies and Radium
Author:
Elizabeth Rubin
Illustrator:
Alan Moyler
Publication:
1961 by Franklin Watts, Inc
Genre:
Biography, Non-fiction
Series:
Immortals of Science 
Members Only (World History)
Pages:
112
Current state:
This book has been evaluated and information added. It has not been read and content considerations may not be complete.
Book Guide
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Pierre and Marie Curie are perhaps the most remarkable husband-and-wife team in the history of science. Together they set out to isolate the mysterious radioactive substance in the masses of pitchblende ore available to them in the old shed that was their laboratory.
It was back-breaking work, but Marie and Pierre kept at it. Finally they obtained a product whose radiation was four hundred times greater than that of uranium! Marie called the new element Polonium, after her beloved native Poland. Later, they isolated their famous element radium—nine hundred times as active as uranium!
Pierre's brilliant career was cut short by his tragic death in 1906, but Marie went on with their courageous work alone. In 1911, she received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of radium.
True, it was Marie's long exposure to radium and X-rays that caused her death. But out of her death came life, for radium is one of modern medicine's greatest life-savers.
From the book
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Elizabeth Rubin
Elizabeth Rubin has been a Staff Editor for The Book of Popular Science. In addition to The Curies and Radium, she has written many articles on scie... See more
Alan Moyler
1926 - 2007British/American
Alan Moyler, who was born in China of British parents, used to visit France from his home in England. He now lives in an old Connecticut farmhouse w... See more
The Curies and Radium 
Reprinted in 2025 by Purple House Press
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Reviews
The Curies and Radium
Reviewed by Edward Garboczi
This book about the Curies focuses mostly on Marie Curie, since it is reasonably clear that although husband and wife worked together, the driver of ideas was Marie. The book is well-written at the middle school to early high school reading level. Finally, it is interesting to note that Pierre and Marie’s oldest daughter, Irene, and her husband won the Nobel prize in Chemistry together in 1935 for another aspect of radioactivity. I guess genes matter - along with family influence!
Immortals of Science Series
Reviewed by Sara Masarik
These books are of varying lengths based on how much is known about the lives of the subject. Whatever the length, I sped through each one as though it were a suspense novel. How will this one manage to carry on his work in the midst of civil war? How can that one earn the respect of the scientific community so his work can be published for the world? What will be the exciting sequence of events that will lead to the ultimate breakthrough? Will he live long enough to find the answer he has searched for all his life?
The science in these books is written in language any curious reader will be able to understand. The authors don’t condescend, but the writing is not above a confident reader, perhaps ten and above. They would also be interesting enough for reading aloud so they can be shared with the entire family, whatever their ages.
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