MARIE CURIE AND HER DAUGHTERS by Shelley Emling

Shelley Emling, Marie Curie and Her Daughters: The Private Lives of Science’s First Family (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

Also available on Nook and Kindle.

(BIOGRAPHY) 

Reviewed by Yvonne Addis

"The year was 1921, and I was a lad of seven." So writes my father, Laird C. Addis, Sr. about his cherished meeting with two-time Nobel winner Madame Marie Curie in New York City, an experience that grew out of his connection with Mrs. William Brown Meloney, editor of The Delineator, a popular women's magazine of the era. As private secretary to "Missy" Meloney, my grandmother, Ruth Beard Addis, worked for a woman who had access to celebrated people all over the world.

As the story of the second act of M. Curie's life begins, Missy Meloney emerges as a central figure in the lives of Marie Curie and her daughters, as well. When Marie Curie became famous for her discovery of radium, Missy went to Paris to accompany Marie to America by steamer in 1921. During this celebrated visit, President Harding presented Marie with a gram of radium at the White House to take back to Paris for M. Curie's laboratory.  

This book is an intimate portrait of the professional and private lives of the family of a legendary scientist - Marie, her husband, scientist Pierre Curie, her Nobel prize-winning chemist daughter Irene and her literary daughter, Eve. The book is dedicated to girls and women everywhere as they pursue study in the fields of math and science.

As a widowed mother of two, Marie struggled with sexism, physical and mental health challenges and the rejection of the French establishment because of her relationship with a married man. Marie, however, was determined to live her life as she saw fit and passed on her resilience to her daughters.  I was particularly moved by Marie's lack of interest in fame or fortune. What she wanted for herself and her daughters was to have a simple family life and work that interested them.

In recommending this compelling biography of science's first family, I believe the family of Laird Addis, Sr. ~ and others ~ will find this account of Marie Curie and her daughters stretching their era's concept of the possibilities for women to be an interesting read.