Obsessive Genius the Inner World of Marie Curie Review
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Maybe I should also listen to The Half-Life of Marie Curie!
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Goldsmith covers primarily the hatred, bigotry and prejudice Curie had to overcome rather than on her scientific discoveries. Goldsmith's weakness is her difficulty in attempting to explain the scientific and theoretical aspects of Marie Curie'southward piece of work. Instead Goldsmith tells how the scientific establishment detested her. She won the Nobel Prize in 1903 for Physics. She shared this with her husband Pierre for discovering radioactivity. She was not allowed to give the keynote lecture that the winner traditionally gives because she was a woman. In 1911 Curie, now a widow, won a second Nobel Prize this time in Chemical science for the discovery of Radium. She won this one alone. Curie, a winner of two Nobel Prizes, was refused membership in the French Academy of Science considering she was a woman. During WWI, she designed a mobile x-ray automobile and then trained her girl in its use. Her girl and so trained technicians to use it. In 1934 her daughter, Irene, discovered artificial radioactive decay and won the Nobel Prize. Marie Curie discovered polonium, radium and radioactivity. She died on 3 July 1934 of aplastic pernicious anemia caused by radium radiation.
The volume was well written and researched. The weakness is noted above. The book was interesting, but there are more than in-depth biographies about Marie Curie available.
Eliza Foss does a adept job narrating the book. Foss is a stage actor and award winning audiobook narrator. I have listened to numerous books she has narrated.
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Though much of the lore surrounding the beginnings of the fields of radiology and nuclear medicine was already known to me from my medical pedagogy and professional training, this book still had much to teach me: for example, I hadn't previously been enlightened that Marie Curie was intimate friends with Hertha Ayrton, the inspiration for the character of Mirah in George Eliot's Daniel Deronda (and a strong scientist and feminist in her own correct). Nor had I known just what a slap-up marriage Marie and Pierre Curie had, with the rock-solid Pierre stalwartly supporting his wife through her recurrent episodes of depression in a fashion that reminded me of the partnership of Leonard and Virginia Woolf. Also surprising to me was the horrible way Marie Curie's reputation was very nearly annihilated past the scandal arising from her thing with married scientist Paul Langevin after Pierre's death (Curie was pressured to leave France when the affair became public noesis, and a member of the Nobel committee even wrote in a letter that the scandal made the committee think twice about application Curie the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry!). Finally, I was pleasantly surprised to learn about the Curies' involvement in the discovery of sonar (Pierre had washed some research on piezoelectric quartz crystals before turning his attention to the study of radioactive decay, and Marie supplied Langevin with some of this quartz to facilitate his pioneering inquiry into sonar), nearly Marie and daughter Irene'south part in establishing an all-female person corps of radiology technologists to serve on the battleground in Earth War I, and about the whole Curie family's firm stances against war and brutality throughout their lives. While some scientists of the fourth dimension made dishonorable concessions to the rise of Nazism, fascism, and antisemitism, the Curie family'due south reputation remains pure.
The book also does a practiced chore of evoking what the process of doing science is actually like, how information technology relies on identifying unanswered questions, designing elegant experiments that answer those questions, painstakingly carrying out those experiments in a tidy replicable way, and, finally, interpreting the experimental results correctly -- Goldsmith gives several good examples of situations where even great minds like the Curies incorrectly interpreted experimental results, leading to confusion and temporary delays in scientific advancement.
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Marva Salomee Sklodowska, Marie Curie, was built-in in Poland. She went to Paris and got her degrees at the Sorbonne and so spent most of her life in France. Her singular passion was for her piece of work merely that changed when she met Pierre Curie
The title "Obsessive Genius" refers to many unlike sides of Marie Curie'southward life. Some may take considered her story to be somewhat of a feminist message but the championship describes the "person", not but the adult female behind the research and the life that went with it.Marva Salomee Sklodowska, Marie Curie, was built-in in Poland. She went to Paris and got her degrees at the Sorbonne and then spent nearly of her life in France. Her singular passion was for her work just that inverse when she met Pierre Curie. Her obsessive passion for work, studies, research, and her husband, were complex and present a very interesting adult female. Their first Nobel Prize in 1903 was a mutual effort but her second came later in her life and was clearly something that she could not exist denied. She was denied the opportunity to co accept the commencement award and sit down in the audience. She had washed much if not nigh of the piece of work.
Like the book Einstein, past Walter Isaacson, this book lets yous encounter a life through the lens of a particular science. In both cases y'all learn about both the person and the science. This type of biography lets you lot see the historical events you lot thought you knew all nearly very differently through the lens of a item person and the science that fills their life. The book is well washed and well worth reading. More on this book at web site. world wide web.connectedeventsmatter.com
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I idea maybe I would go bogged down with all the chemical science and physics involved, but the author gave us a clear and curtailed explanation, one that was not too difficult to follow. As well thought she did a very good job, mixing their wellness, their home and their work. All in all a very good read about the lives of this famous woman. So admired her spunk, because she basically had to fight every pace of the way the prejudices of the time.
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Unfortunately, the death of her female parent and older sister, inside two weeks of each other, brought near a depressive state that would recur in Marie's life especially when faced with loss. Despite her emotional illness, and the prejudices confronting women, Curie was able to persevere and focus on her scientific piece of work in radiology.
It isn't a long book and with all that she accomplished certainly much more can be written about her. The scientific details are thin, enough to understand the significance but without going into details that only scientists can truly grasp. If someone wants in depth scientific discipline that Curie accomplished, this is not that book. For the basics of a biography, this was a good volume.
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All explanations of why I read it aside, I recall this book is a bully example of the top-downwardly non-fiction book. It is a straightforward retelling of Marie Curie'south life, and--as long every bit y'all only view it as such--it works. Unfortunately there isn't much more to the volume, and information technology suffers some attributes common to the top-downwardly style of writing,
It was the Fourth of July, and I needed a volume to read; what more advisable material than the biography of a Polish departer living and working in France?All explanations of why I read information technology aside, I think this volume is a great example of the top-downwardly non-fiction volume. Information technology is a straightforward retelling of Marie Curie'due south life, and--as long as you but view information technology every bit such--it works. Unfortunately there isn't much more to the book, and it suffers some attributes mutual to the top-down style of writing, importantly that the story sounds not bad in short (one of the greatest scientists of the tardily eighteenth/early nineteenth centuries fights to overcome poor funding and gender bias in the academy to make some of the greatest contributions to modern physics!), but the end upshot feels sort of mailed in, every bit though Goldsmith merely chose to write about Curie because it was easier than writing about Mary Wollstonecraft or Abigail Adams. As such, Curie comes off as two dimensional martyr for historical currents that happen to interest Goldsmith (She was a genius whose contributions helped change the world--but wait at the cost she paid!). I wondered what stories there were at the margins of the book, which interesting lilliputian $.25 Goldsmith had cut in order to run into a word limit.
Bottom line: if you've got a wearisome paper to write, this is a great source. If you want to understand a great mind, a time and place, a different earth, this might be a good starting bespeak.
*A bottom up volume would be something that starts from a pocket-sized question or observation (or at least purports to beginning from something small) and then stumbles across Big Themes, rather than starting with the Themes and looking for examples that support information technology. A good example of a lesser-upwardly book would be Born to Run or Moneyball.
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Quick, interesting read. Nothing super special.
she struggled a lot, worked extremely hard, and achieved quite a lot.
faced countless discrimination, mainly just because she is a woman, then a greenhorn.
but what actually surprised me was that even after her discoveries got proven scientifically, they simply found even more methods to discriminate against her..
then after those people cannot do mu Showtime time reading almost this amazing scientist, generation of smart people, her father never stopped educating the kids, and she continued the journey.
she struggled a lot, worked extremely hard, and accomplished quite a lot.
faced countless bigotry, mainly just because she is a woman, then a greenhorn.
but what really surprised me was that even later her discoveries got proven scientifically, they but establish even more methods to discriminate against her..
then later on those people cannot exercise much about it, credited her husband.. but he was a great man, in the Nobel Prize speech he simply praised his married woman which was sitting among the normal audience.
she was denied plenty of privileges which she highly deserved, all of that considering she was a woman.
the deplorable part of it that the story kind of repeated with her girl which is also a Nobel Prize winner with her husband.
such a great story,
She and her hubby driven by curiousness and love of knowledge and scientific discipline, they worked only for that, with such a passion.
the book is short and motivating to move on, work harder and stay patient.
Discrimination and racism nonetheless out there until this day, that is why such stories are so of import to read and feel it, no person should non exist denied the opportunities because of gender / origin or religion.
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Marie Curie is most famous for identifying and isolating the chemical element radium. She and her husband Pierre worked obsessively on this bang-up project for a few years until their experiments were finally successful.
The extensive exposure to radium eventually killed both Marie and her husband Pierre. Marie lived much longer than Pierre but her wellness was al
I really enjoyed this volume and learned and so much not only about Madame Curie but also about the scientific world of the 19th and early on 20th century.Marie Curie is about famous for identifying and isolating the element radium. She and her husband Pierre worked obsessively on this cracking projection for a few years until their experiments were finally successful.
The extensive exposure to radium eventually killed both Marie and her husband Pierre. Marie lived much longer than Pierre but her health was e'er on the turn down. In fact, the Curie habiliment and papers are still to this day radioactive!
Marie Curie won ii Nobel Prizes in her life and was the first and but woman Nobel Prize recipient until her daughter Irene won the prize.
Marie and Pierre had 2 daughters and one of her daughters, Irene, as well became a famous scientist. And Irene's daughter too became a famous scientist!
Marie's story is a classic example of a person overcoming all odds to do great things. She overcame the disadvantage of growing up in an occupied country. She overcame great poverty. And she overcame being a woman in the field of scientific discipline in the 19th and early on 20th century when women were not valued for their scientific minds.
She was built-in in a country that did not be. That country was Poland. She lived in Warsaw which was owned past Russian federation. Her male parent was a Polish patriot and he raised his children to be trigger-happy Shine patriots like him. In fact, Marie named one of the elements that she discovered, Polium, afterward her love Poland.
Marie was a very intelligent child who resented the Russian run schools she attended. Though her father was a professor, the family was impoverished because the Russians only wanted Russian teachers in the schools in Poland. Thus, her male parent struggled to provide for his family which included several children.
Marie's mother died of tuberculosis when she was a child. Maybe, because of this, Marie was emotionally afar the rest of her life even when she herself was a mother.
Marie suffered from life long depression and had a few nervous breakdowns throughout her life. She suffered greatly later her husband died and even blamed herself for his expiry.
I of the about poignant quotations in the book came from a letter Marie wrote to a friend. After her husband's death, she began to withdraw from her friends and family fifty-fifty more then than she usually did. Hither is what she said in her own words nearly that terrible time:
"I have completely lost the habit of conversations without a set goal."
Anyway, I learned A LOT from this book and I highly recommend it. It is very like shooting fish in a barrel to read and empathize even if yous are similar me and don't know much almost chemistry and physics. It is written for the layman and it is only most 250 pages.
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Shit like this pisses me off. Centuries upon centuries of wasted opportunities, of one-half the population not being able to contribute to our culture'southward history of ideas, of women being the interesting exceptions who must exist rediscovered and disinterred and belatedly celebrated.
That rant aside, this is a terrific account of Curie'due south life, with
Did you know that Marie Curie won 2 Nobel Prizes, merely never voted? She died in 1934, and French women were not able to vote until after the 2d World War.Shit like this pisses me off. Centuries upon centuries of wasted opportunities, of half the population not existence able to contribute to our culture'southward history of ideas, of women being the interesting exceptions who must exist rediscovered and disinterred and tardily celebrated.
That bluster bated, this is a terrific business relationship of Curie'south life, with equal time given to her family and groundwork and to her science. An like shooting fish in a barrel read, and revealing; like Ada Babbage, Curie is one of those figures who you feel y'all know something almost simply really, yous know a couple of keyword searches.
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Fifty-fifty though this isn't the globe'due south about scintillating prose, I had to requite this book 4 stars considering I so liked the bizarre hype effectually radioactivity (that "the upper crust carried
Straight-frontwards chronicle of Maria Curie's life and family unit. Writer Goldsmith does a brilliant job of articulating Curie'due south scientific discoveries in a style the lay person can follow, simply she constantly alluded to various inaccurate myths virtually the Curies that I had non been aware of, and thus institute kind of distracting.Even though this isn't the world'due south well-nigh scintillating prose, I had to give this book 4 stars because I and then liked the bizarre hype effectually radioactivity (that "the upper crust carried vials of radium bromide in their pockets or purses"!), its description of mail-WWI paparazzi, and for the love of three generations of leading lady scientists.
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"You lot cannot hope to build a ameliorate world without improving the individuals. To that cease, each of the states must work for our own improvememt."
I picked this up on a whim..I got it from the library and I idea I'd never really read it.
But I'm glad I did. I'm not good at physics or chemics although I think they're interesting.
Marie Curie was such an important and inspiring woman, I'm astonished by her conclusion and intelligence..she had revolutionary thoughts and was ahead of her time, es
"You cannot promise to build a meliorate world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for our own improvememt."
I picked this up on a whim..I got information technology from the library and I idea I'd never really read it.
But I'yard glad I did. I'one thousand not good at physics or chemics although I call up they're interesting.
Marie Curie was such an important and inspiring woman, I'm astonished past her determination and intelligence..she had revolutionary thoughts and was ahead of her time, peculiarly when it comes to the role of women or women in science. She never understood why people need to handle their conflicts physically. 💫
The physics and chemics related facts were hard for me to sympathize merely I tried my best to, at least, take something out of them ☝🏻😂
This was too my real first contact with a biography and information technology definitely opened a door for me. I will probably only pick them up rarely but I won't be scared of them anymore.
It also made me reflect on my ain life and I was shocked to read how much she had already accomplished when she was only my age🤷🏻♀️
I learned and so much more about her and I'thousand happy that I did. She is someone we tin all look up to, even if we don't really like science and even if she seemed quite common cold sometimes. - It'south about her values and willpower 🏁
Marie Curie (1867-1934) was born in a globe that did not acknowledge woman every bit scholars. She fought for every opportunity to written report and was also hampered by poverty. Merely she prevailed.
Wh
Marie Curie is a name that I've been familiar with for nigh of my life, only I didn't know much more than that she was a French scientist. Marie Curie was a Polish woman who lived in France and was the start adult female to win a Nobel prize, and she won information technology twice. She was a physicist and pharmacist and studied radioactivity.Marie Curie (1867-1934) was born in a world that did not acknowledge woman every bit scholars. She fought for every opportunity to study and was likewise hampered past poverty. Only she prevailed.
While it was enlightening to read well-nigh her difficult won success in scientific discipline, it was fascinating to read most her life as an almost motherless child and then every bit a mother herself. She was kept at a distance from her mother who had tuberculosis and Curie felt the loss of that love. Notwithstanding, when she became a mother, she was so obsessed with her research that she did non mother her own children very much. Perhaps she really didn't know how. Goldsmith portrays her as a physically and emotionally weak adult female - she gave everything to her scientific piece of work.
I'thou definitely not a science person and I did become lost in all the scientific details and in the many names of other scientists and their territorial squabbles. I was more interested in Curie'southward personal life. Obsessive Genius is a fair introduction to a fascinating adult female.
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This i was a bang-up one, though! I kept turning folio after folio because the story really drew me in.
Particularly memorable: the irony in information technology all, when Marie and Pierre, in a race to discover more well-nigh the time to come medical breakthrough (polonium and radium), purify more and more of the radioactive fabric that would destroy bo
I was very surprised about this book. I wanted to read it for a book guild, and while it sounded interesting, I didn't expect besides much, because I don't like almost biographies.This one was a nifty one, though! I kept turning page later page considering the story actually drew me in.
Particularly memorable: the irony in it all, when Marie and Pierre, in a race to discover more about the futurity medical quantum (polonium and radium), purify more and more of the radioactive material that would destroy both of their healths.
Phew... I feel like I just got off a roller coaster ride. Information technology's a great book, not likewise long, but definitely captivating!
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I was inspired by Marie's early dedication to learning and her desire to help her sis obtain a university education. It was likewise appealing to read virtually her l
I really enjoyed this volume. For me, it had just the right amount of science in it--enough so that I could empathize what Curie was doing and why her work was important, merely not then much that my educational defects got in the way. I am So ignorant about technical things, having spent my life focused on music, literature, history, and art.I was inspired by Marie's early dedication to learning and her desire to help her sister obtain a university education. It was also appealing to read near her loving relationship with her husband.
It was shocking, though not surprising, to read how her contributions were ignored by the Nobel committee. Even after they grudgingly agreed to include her in the 1903 prize, they wouldn't let her speak or sit on the dais with the other winners, and the prize money for the three winners (the Curies and Henri Becquerel) was divided in two rather than three parts, as though Marie and Pierre were just one person.
Later, when she had her matter with colleague Paul Langevin, the prevailing double standard fabricated HER the villain in the story, although Langevin was the i cheating on his married woman. Obviously he was not treated as a pariah only she was. Both professionally and personally, Marie had to struggle confronting the sexist attitudes of her time. (And have things really changed and so much, even at present??)
I establish it interesting to read virtually Pierre's fatal accident and realize that I know exactly where it had happened...have been at the exact spot many times. It was very easy to visualize. Horrible way for Pierre to dice, and terrible how she found out about it. I felt very pitiful for her and peculiarly for the children, who were never allowed to talk about their father and to grieve properly.
And speaking of her children....Marie certainly was not a warm and welcoming parent. The volume showed her as very focused on her work to the nearly-total exclusion of her children and her social life. I suppose that is what an "obsessive genius" must be similar. Had she been a more ordinary parent, she probably wouldn't have had the time and energy to accomplish what she did professionally.
I hadn't known about the role she played during World War I. It was fascinating to read about the mobile X-ray units she created and operated.
I'k happy that her adopted country finally recognized her wartime and scientific contributions and gave her a place in the previously all-male Pantheon.
...more Information technology was interesting how Goldsmith did not just write about Curie eithe
Overall I found information technology a pretty well written book. More than pictures would've been nice, because I must admit to existence a rather superficial person who likes to "put a face to the story." There are a few snapshots but they are scattered throughout the biography and probably number less than 10. That is truly depressing for the visual learners. You're better off just looking at the cover jacket to remind yourself what Curie looked liked.Information technology was interesting how Goldsmith did not just write about Curie either. Apparently the other characters were related, in some fashion, to her, only their stories were told besides. We learned what sort of homo Pierre was, and how their human relationship went forth. Nosotros learned what it was like to take the Marie Curie for a female parent, and how information technology influenced her 2 daughters in two different ways. Relying heavily on interviews with her granddaughter and facts gleaned from the Curie papers, professional and personal, it presents a pretty full-bodied portrait of the famous scientist. There is also some commentary from Goldsmith, towards the end, most what drew her to Marie Curie in the commencement place. This was interesting considering, well, it's a valid question! Also explains a lot about how she formatted the volume and why she wrote information technology the way she did.
It did not ring equally terribly biased; fifty-fifty the French government which is criticized must accept that criticism isn't unwarranted. Knowing that the book was written primarily from words Curie herself had written in letters and diaries besides helped footing the book more. I experience that it is more credible because information technology got its facts from the adult female herself. Of grade, that isn't to say Goldsmith could non have "read" the works in a certain light. But at least the works themselves were true. Her addressing the "myth of Madame Curie," mostly self-fabricated for financial reasons, was besides of import. Information technology's difficult to understand a woman who does not want to exist understood or scrutinized. Her death probably makes it easier.
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I think the concluding quote from Marie sums it up wonderfully:
"I am amid those who remember that science has bang-up dazzler. A scientist in his laboratory is not simply a technician, he is too a child place before natural miracle, which impress him like a fairy tale."
Their love was a dearest for the ages. It's and then rare to see two people and so
I've finished this wonderful biography. I can't believe it took me so long to finally pick information technology upwards. Cheers for reading it with me Greta - you are the reason I finally did!I recall the final quote from Marie sums information technology up wonderfully:
"I am amidst those who recollect that science has peachy beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician, he is too a child place before natural miracle, which impress him similar a fairy tale."
Their love was a love for the ages. Information technology'due south so rare to see two people so perfectly, honestly, and naturally matched. This is how I view beloved. They meant as equals of the heed, and because of that, their love had such an enormously sturdy base of operations in which to grow.
I do feel for their children. It happens often when 2 people love each more than than the moon and stars for at that place to be enough space for their offspring. Information technology's impossible to compete with that sort of love.
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I exercise believe that this book has to be the best book to provide united states with everything about Mary Cury and her journey with science ....although it has a lot of sofisticated scientific experiments that might be difficult for a regular reader to understand, I enjoyed reading and understanding every single folio of information technology ! ...more than
In unproblematic school we read biographies that promote the Marie Curie myth - her struggles in an common cold lab until she succeeds at finding radium and becomes the first woman to win one, then two Nobel prizes. This biography presents Marie Curie equally she struggled not only against strong social pressure level against women in science just against depression The book started out on a positive notation with the author bio at the start: Barbara Goldsmith was born in New York, graduated from Wellesley College...
In uncomplicated school we read biographies that promote the Marie Curie myth - her struggles in an cold lab until she succeeds at finding radium and becomes the first woman to win one, and so two Nobel prizes. This biography presents Marie Curie as she struggled not merely against stiff social pressure against women in science only against depression as well. She was not an easy person to get forth with, and her stubbornness seems to have played a part in her unwillingness to recognize the furnishings that radium was having on her torso.
From the intellectual history perspective, it'south fascinating to read virtually the fourth dimension when knowledge that the average loftier school educatee today takes for granted was still being debated. ...more
Just a smashing story. I finished Obsessive Genius in two days. Maybe I demonstrated some obsessive reading on a holiday!
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I think I volition wait for more books on the scientists and mathematicians of the early 20th century. This series includes books on Feynman
This is an easy read, about 230 pages, and serves every bit a good introduction to Curie and her piece of work - which is described at a very loftier level, with no in-depth explanation of the science. The prose does experience a flake condensed sometimes, as if the author struggled to keep the book nether a maximum word count, perchance to fit the format of this "Great Discoveries" series.I think I will look for more than books on the scientists and mathematicians of the early 20th century. This series includes books on Feynman (I've read some of his autobiographical works), Rutherford, Turing, Gödel, and Henrietta Leavitt.
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Some lessons to remember :
All fears must exist conquered.
Create your own rules.
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