This narrative is, to be sure, neither complete nor perfect. I hope, nevertheless, that the picture it gives of Pierre Curie is not deformed, and that it will help to conserve his memory. I wish, too, that it might remind those who knew him of the reasons for which they loved him. M. C. CONTENTS Introduction CHAPTER I. The Curie Family. Infancy and First Studies of Pierre Curie II. Dreams of Youth. First Scientific Work. Discovery of Piezo-Electricity III. Life as the Director of Laboratory Work in the School of Physics and Chemistry. Generalization of the Principle of Symmetry. Investigations of Magnetism IV. Marriage and Organization of Family Life. Personality and Character V. The Dream Become a Reality. The Discovery of Radium VI. The Struggle for Means to Work. The Burden of Celebrity. The First Assistance from the State. It Comes Too Late VII. The Nation's Sorrow. The Laboratories: "Sacred Places" Autobiographical Notes--Marie Curie ILLUSTRATIONS Pierre Curie in 1906. Pierre and Marie Curie in their laboratory, where radium was discovered. A view of the extraction of radium in the old shed where the first radium was obtained. Pierre Curie with the quartz piezo-electroscope he invented, by which rays of radium are measured. A view of the extraction of radium in the old shed where the first radium was obtained. Mme. Curie instructing American soldiers in her Paris laboratory. Madame Curie in her laboratory at the Institut Curie, Paris. Mme. Curie and President Harding at the White House, May 20, 1921, when a gram of radium was presented to its discoverer by the women of America. PIERRE CURIE 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. It was one of the silent, unheralded great moments in the world's history. The discovery which had become a fact that morning was no accident. It was a triumph over hardship and doubting men. It represented years of patient labor. Madame Curie and her husband, Pierre Curie, had wrested from Mother Earth one of her most priceless secrets. I have been asked to tell why I undertook the Marie Curie Radium Campaign and how I persuaded Madame Curie to write this book.