The myth of Marie Curie—the penniless Polish immigrant who, through genius and obsessive persistence, endured years of toil and deprivation to produce radium, a luminous panacea for all the world’s ills including cancer—has obscured the remarkable truth behind her discoveries.

Curie’s shrewd though controversial insight was that radioactivity was an atomic property that could be used to discover new elements.

While her work won her two Nobel Prizes and transformed our world, it did not liberate her from the prejudices of either the male-dominated scientific community or society. Here is an all-too-human woman trying to balance science, love, and the family values that constitute her legacy.

Using original research (diaries, letters, and family interviews) to peel away the layers of myth and reveal the woman behind the icon, the acclaimed author and historian Barbara Goldsmith offers a dazzling portrait of Curie, her amazing discoveries, and the price she paid for fame.

BARBARA GOLDSMITH, the notable author and historian, has written several best-selling and prestigious award-winning books and articles. Her books include The Straw Man, Little Gloria . . . Happy at Last, Johnson v. Johnson, Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull, and Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie. This book has been translated into fourteen languages and just earned her the American Institute of Physics highest honor for a writer, its 2006 Science Writing Award.

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