Pierre Curie

“ One can understand, from this letter, that for Pierre Curie there was only one way of looking at the future. He had dedicated his life to his dream of science: he felt the need of a companion who could live his dream with him. He told me many times that the reason he had not married until he was thirty-six was because he did not believe in the possibility of a marriage which would meet this, his absolute necessity.
When he was twenty-two years old he wrote in his diary:
"Women, much more than men, love life for life's sake. ”

“ Thus, for Pierre Curie, the sensation of well-being he experienced in the country was derived from the opportunity for tranquil reflection. Daily life in Paris with its numerous interruptions did not permit of undisturbed concentration, and this was to him a cause of inquietude and suffering. He felt himself destined for scientific research; for him the necessity was imperative of comprehending the phenomena of Nature in order to form a satisfactory theory to explain them. ”

“ The year 1903 was especially important in the development of the new science. In this year the investigation of radium, the new chemical element, was achieved, and Pierre Curie demonstrated the astonishing discharge of heat by this element, which nevertheless remained unaltered in appearance. In England, Ramsay and Soddy announced a great discovery. They proved that radium continually produces helium gas and under conditions that force one to believe in an atomic transformation. ”

“ THE LIFE STORY OF PIERRE CURIE
INTRODUCTION BY MRS. WILLIAM BROWN MELONEY
Every little while a man or a woman is born to serve in some big way. Such a one surely is Marie Curie. Her discovery of radium has advanced science, relieved human suffering and enriched the world. The spirit in which she has done her work has challenged the minds and souls of men.
One morning in the spring of 1898, when the United States was going to war with Spain, Madame Curie stepped forth from a crude shack on the outskirts of Paris, with the greatest secret of the century literally in the palm of her hand. ”

“ Of course, people who contribute to that kind of trouble generally mean it kindly. It is only that they do not realize the conditions of the problem.
In 1904 our second daughter. Eve Denise, came to us. I had, of course, to interrupt my work in the laboratory for a while. In the same year, because of the awarding of the Nobel prize and the general public recognition, a new chair of physics was created in Sorbonne, and my husband was named as its occupant. At the same time I was named chief of work in the laboratory that was to be created for him. ”

“ For the admirable gift of himself, and for the magnificent service he renders humanity, what reward does our society offer the scientist? Have these servants of an idea the necessary means of work? Have they an assured existence, sheltered from care? The example of Pierre Curie, and of others, shows that they have none of these things; and that more often, before they can secure possible working conditions, they have to exhaust their youth and their powers in daily anxieties. Our society, in which reigns an eager desire for riches and luxury, does not understand the value of science. ”

“ I succeeded, too, jointly with André Debierne, in obtaining radium in the state of metal. The total quantity of radium I prepared and gave to the laboratory, in agreement with Pierre Curie's desire, amounted to more than a gramme of radium element.
The activity of pure radium exceeded all our expectations. For equal weights this substance emits a radiation more than a million times more intense than uranium. To offset this, the quantity of radium contained in uranium minerals is scarcely more than three decigrammes of radium to the ton of uranium. ”

“ Can we fully imagine the regret of an enthusiastic and disinterested worker in a great work, who is retarded in the realization of his dream by the constant lack of means? And can we think without a feeling of profound grief of the waste—the one irreparable one—of the nation's greatest asset: the genius, the powers, and the courage of its best children?
Pierre Curie had always in mind his urgent need for a good laboratory. ”

“ Moreover, Pierre Curie's new position did not bring with it a laboratory; a little office and a single work room were all that he had at his disposition in the annex (12 rue Cuvier) of the Sorbonne, which served as teaching quarters for the P.C.N. And yet he felt it absolutely necessary to go ahead with his own work. In fact, the rapid extension of his investigations in radioactivity had made him determine that in his new position at the Sorbonne he would receive students and start them in research. He therefore took steps to find larger available working quarters. ”

“ We can see, however, in the letters I have quoted earlier, the unshakeable faith that Pierre Curie had in science and in its power to further the general good of humanity. It seems appropriate to apply to him the sentiment expressed by Pasteur in words so well known: "I believe invincibly that science and peace will triumph over ignorance and war." ”

“ While my paternal grandfather had divided his time between agriculture and directing a provincial college, my father, more strongly drawn to study, followed the course of the University of Petrograd, and later definitely established himself at Warsaw as Professor of Physics and Mathematics in one of the lyceums of that city. He married a young woman whose mode of life was congenial to his; for, although very young, she had, what was, for that time, a very serious education, and was the director of one of the best Warsaw schools for young girls. ”

“ The foregoing brief exposition reveals the high philosophic import of these conceptions of symmetry which touch all natural phenomena, and whose profound significance Pierre Curie so clearly set forth. It is interesting in this connection to recall the relation which Pasteur saw between these same conceptions and the manifestations of life. "The universe," he said, "is a dissymmetric whole. I am led to believe that life, as it is revealed to us, must be a function of the dissymmetry of the universe, or of the consequences that it involves." ”

“ His work in this field is fundamental, and even though he was led away from it later by other investigations, he always retained a passionate interest in the physics of crystals, as well as in projects of further research in this domain.
The principle of symmetry to which Pierre Curie had so eagerly devoted himself is one of the small number of great principles which dominate the study of the phenomena of physics, and which, having their root in ideas derived by experiment, yet little by little detach themselves and assume a form more and more general and more and more perfect. ”

“ André Debierne gladly accepted Pierre Curie's proposal that he occupy himself with the investigation of radioactivity; and he undertook, in particular, the search for a new radio element, which we suspected existed in the iron group and in rare earths. He discovered the element actinium. Even though he carried on his work in the laboratory of physical chemistry at the Sorbonne, directed by Jean Perrin, he frequently came to visit us in our storeroom, and was soon an intimate friend of ours, and of Doctor Curie and the children. ”

“ The greatest courtesy was paid me in my visit to the radium plant and laboratory. I found the same reception at a factory of mesothorium which presented me with some material, and where the officials expressed the desire to help in my scientific work.
To make complete these travel impressions it would be necessary to speak of the nature of the country. I recoil before the task, being incapable of expressing in a few words the immensity and the variety of the spaces which opened before my eyes. The general impression is one of unlimited possibilities for the future. ”

“ In the spring of 1900, there came an unexpected offer, that of the Chair of Physics in the University of Geneva. The doyen of that University made the invitation in the most cordial manner, and insisted that the University was ready to make an exceptional effort to secure a scientist of such high repute. The advantages of this position were that the salary was larger than the average one, that it carried the promise of the development of a Physics Laboratory adequate to our needs, and that an official position for me would be provided in this laboratory. ”

“ In spite of our desire to concentrate our entire effort on the work in which we were engaged, and in spite of the fact that our needs were so modest, we were forced to recognize, toward 1900, that some increase in our income was indispensable. Pierre Curie had few illusions about his chances of obtaining an important chair in the University of Paris, which would, even though it meant no large salary, have sufficed for the small needs of our family, and enabled us to live without a supplementary revenue. ”

“ In many cases, up to the present, no exterior action has shown itself effective in influencing the transformation.
This rapid succession of discoveries which overthrew familiar scientific conceptions long held in physics and chemistry did not fail to meet, at first, with doubts and incredulity. But the great part of the scientific world received them with enthusiasm. At the same time Pierre Curie's fame grew in France and in foreign countries. ”

“ Between the days of fecund productivity are inserted days of uncertainty when nothing seems to succeed, and when even matter itself seems hostile; and it is then that one must hold out against discouragement. Thus without ever forsaking his inexhaustible patience, Pierre Curie used sometimes to say to me: "It is nevertheless hard, this life that we have chosen." ”

“ I myself am no longer young, and I frequently ask myself whether, in spite of recent efforts of the government aided by some private donations, I shall ever succeed in building up for those who will come after me an Institute of Radium, such as I wish to the memory of Pierre Curie and to the highest interest of humanity. ”

“ Several years later, when preoccupied with reflections upon symmetry, he asked himself the question: "Could not one find a general method for the solution of any equation whatever? Everything is a question of symmetry." He did not then know of Galois' theory of groups which had made it possible to attack this problem. But he was happy later to learn its results in the geometric applications to the case of equations of the 5th degree.
Thanks to his rapid progress in mathematics and physics, Pierre Curie was made a bachelor of science at the age of sixteen years. ”

“ In every phenomenon the elements of symmetry compatible with its existence may be determined. Certain elements can coexist with certain phenomena, but they are not necessary to them. That which is necessary is that certain ones among these elements shall not exist. It is dissymmetry that creates the phenomenon. When several phenomena are superposed in the same system, the dissymmetries are added together. "Works of Pierre Curie," page 127. ”

“ I did not know then that great bags of mail from all parts of the world lay piled up in her laboratory where there was no secretary, while Madame Curie with her X-ray apparatus was at the front, relieving suffering and saving lives.
In May, 1919, another mission took me to Paris and I resolved to see Madame Curie myself. My friend, Stéphane Lauzanne, Editor-in-Chief of Le Matin, said: "Give it up. Become interested in something else; she will see no one. She does nothing but work." ”

“ This became known in France as the Curie electrometer. Thus these years of collaboration between the two brothers, always intimately united, proved both happy and fruitful. Their devotion and their common interest in science were to them both a stimulant and a support. During their work the vivacity and energy of Jacques were of precious aid to Pierre, always more easily absorbed by his thoughts. ”

“ A luncheon of the Chemists, a reception at the Museum of Natural History and the Mineralogical Club, a dinner at the Institute of Social Sciences, and a great meeting at Carnegie Hall, where many delegations represented the faculties and students of women's colleges and universities. At all these receptions I was greeted in warm addresses by prominent men and women, and I received honors very precious to me because of the sincerity of the givers. Neither has the part of national friendships been forgotten ”

“ But we had to think also of increasing our resources to meet the needs of our larger family and to enable us to secure someone to help me in the house, a necessity from now on. However, our situation remained as it was during the following two years, which we consecrated to intensive laboratory research on radioactivity. It was, indeed, not relieved until 1900, to the detriment, it is true, of the amount of time we could give to our investigations.
All formal social obligations were excluded from our life. Pierre Curie had for such things an unconquerable repugnance. ”

“ I found everywhere the greatest care for developing scientific activity and for improving the facilities. New laboratories are in building, and in older laboratories very modern equipment may be found. The available room never gives that impression of insufficiency from which we suffer too often in France. The means are provided by private initiative expressed in gifts and foundations of various kinds. There exists also a National Council of Research established by private funds for stimulating and improving scientific work, and for assuring its connection with industry. ”