Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie

by Barbara Goldsmith

Overview

Through family interviews, diaries, letters, and workbooks that had been sealed for over sixty years, Barbara Goldsmith reveals the Marie Curie behind the myth—an all-too-human woman struggling to balance a spectacular scientific career, a demanding family, the prejudice of society, and her own passionate nature. Obsessive Genius is a dazzling portrait of Curie, her amazing scientific success, and the price she paid for fame.

The best-selling, "excellent . . . poignant—and scientifically lucid— portrait" (New York Times Book Review) of the remarkable Marie Curie.... "Never a dull moment. . . . Goldsmith leads the reader through a wonderland of facts with just the right blend of science and story. In the end, the mystery of the great Madame [Curie] remains, but a deeper understanding of what she went through as a woman and a scientist shines as strong as her radium."—San Francisco Chronicle "Bestselling historian Goldsmith incisively chronicles [Curie's] intensely dramatic life. . . . Her powerful portrait reveals a woman of great passion, genius, and pain who changed the world."—Booklist, starred review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393079760
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	05/16/2011
Series:	Great Discoveries
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	579 KB

About the Author

Barbara Goldsmith's previous bestsellers include Little Gloria . . . Happy at Last, Johnson v. Johnson, and Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull. She lives in New York City

Table of Contents

	Introduction	13
Chapter 1	Early Influences	20
Chapter 2	"I Came Through It All Honestly"	33
Chapter 3	Paris	45
Chapter 4	Pierre	53
Chapter 5	Remarkable Accidents	61
Chapter 6	"The Question Was Entirely New"	68
Chapter 7	"The Best Sprinters"	80
Chapter 8	"A Beautiful Color"	89
Chapter 9	"What Is the Source of the Energy?"	101
Chapter 10	"I Will Make Him an Help Meet for Him"	107
Chapter 11	"The Disaster of Our Lives"	114
Chapter 12	"We Were Happy"	127
Chapter 13	The Metamorphosis	135
Chapter 14	"My Children...Cannot Awaken Life in Me"	145
Chapter 15	"The Chemistry of the Invisible"	154
Chapter 16	Honor and Dishonor	165
Chapter 17	"She Is Very Obstinate"	177
Chapter 18	"All My Strength"	183
Chapter 19	The Making of a Myth	191
Chapter 20	To Pass the Torch	205
Chapter 21	Marie's Legacy	220
	Acknowledgments	234
	Notes	237
	Selected Bibliography	249
	Photo Credits	256

Editorial Reviews

Never a dull moment…Goldsmith leads the reader through a wonderland of facts with just the right blend of science and story. In the end, the mystery of the great Madame [Curie] remains, but a deeper understanding of what she went through as a woman and a scientist shines as strong as her radium.— San Francisco Chronicle

Bestselling historian Goldsmith incisively chronicles [Curie's] intensely dramatic life…Her powerful portrait reveals a woman of great passion, genius, and pain who changed the world.— Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

As seen in Goldsmith's poignant -- and scientifically lucid -- portrait, she was a depressed, obsessive genius. Life itself was less important than the work. Could Marie Curie have achieved so much without the depression? Probably. Without the obsession? Probably not.
— The New York Times

Brenda Maddox