The award of the Nobel prize was an important event for us because of the prestige carried by the Nobel foundation, only recently founded (1901). Also, from a financial point of view, the half of the prize represented an important sum. It meant that in the future Pierre Curie could turn over his teaching in the School of Physics to Paul Langevin, one of his former students, and a physicist of great competence. He could also engage a preparator to aid him in his work. But at the same time the publicity this very happy event entailed bore very heavily on a man who was neither prepared for it, nor accustomed to it. There followed an avalanche of visits, of letters, of demands for articles and lectures, which meant a constant enervation, fatigue, and loss of time. He was kind and did not like to refuse a request; but on the other hand, he had to recognize that he could not accede to the solicitations that overwhelmed him without disastrous results to his health, as well as to his peace of mind, and his work. In a letter to Ch. Ed. Guillaume, he said: "People ask me for articles and lectures, and after a few years are passed, the very persons who make these demands will be astonished to see that we have not accomplished any work." And in other letters of the same period, written to E. Gouy, he expressed himself as follows: "20 March 1902 "As you have seen, fortune favors us at this moment; but these favors of fortune do not come without many worries. We have never been less tranquil than at this moment. There are days when we scarcely have time to breathe. And to think that we dreamed of living in the wild, quite removed from human beings!" "22 January 1904 "MY DEAR FRIEND: