Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie (Great Discoveries) (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Paris, April 20, 1995: the white carpet stretched block after block down the rue Soufflot ending in front of the Pantheon, which was draped in..." (more)
Key Phrases: Madame Curie, Marie Curie, Pierre Curie (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

So enduring is the reputation of Marie Curie that more than 100 years after she won her first Nobel Prize, for physics in 1903 (she won a second, for chemistry, in 1911), Curie (1867–1934) is still regarded by most as the pre-eminent woman scientist of the 20th century. Goldsmith's straightforward biography illuminates both the public Curie, a tireless scientist obsessed with work, and the private one, a woman who suffered bouts of severe depression, was distant from her children and scarred deeply by the accidental death of her scientist husband, Pierre, in 1906. Using long-sealed Curie family archives, Goldsmith offers a well-rounded view of her subject that makes good dramatic use of the considerable intrigue that surrounded Curie's scientific accomplishments and her private life. Goldsmith also reminds us, without belaboring the point, that Curie overcame obstacles, including pervasive sexism within the scientific community that almost cost her the Nobel. Goldsmith is also adept at demonstrating that for Curie the nexus of public accomplishments and private happiness was tenuous. Although Curie continued working after Pierre's death, Goldsmith says she never allowed his name to be spoken: "Never again would there be a sign of joy." Goldsmith, biographer of Gloria Vanderbilt and Victoria Woodhull, is weakest at explaining the theoretical basis for Curie's scientific breakthroughs, which set the stage for the exploration of the atom. B&w illus.
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From Booklist

Best-selling historian Goldsmith incisively chronicles the intensely dramatic life of the first woman scientist to win the Nobel Prize, neatly explicating both scientific breakthroughs and complex personal and societal conflicts. Curie, born Marya Salomee Sklodowska, endured and triumphed over a tough childhood in Russian-occupied Poland as well as depression, sexism, and poverty. A brilliant and profoundly committed scientist who achieved many firsts, she found her soul mate in fellow scientist and maverick Pierre Curie, who helped her conduct the grueling experiments that enabled her to discover polonium, radium, and radioactivity, thus throwing "open the door to atomic science." A humanist who hoped that radiation would only be used for good, Marie Curie also invented a mobile X-ray unit that her courageous scientist daughter, Irene Joliot-Curie, who also won a Nobel Prize, operated on the front lines. Marie, Pierre, and Irene were all made fatally ill by their work with radioactive substances, and decades later, the Curie papers that Goldsmith has made such superb use of were still "hot." Marie Curie's life, Goldsmith concludes, was "tragic and glorious." Her powerful portrait reveals a woman of great passion, genius, and pain who changed the world in ways she would have deplored. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (November 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393051374
• ISBN-13: 978-0393051377
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #625,833 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Biography, November 28, 2004

By	Wilkie Collins (USA) - See all my reviews

Obsessive Genius is an utterly fascinating portrait of a hallowed and difficult subject. If you are a fan of Goldsmith's work, (I am) you will immediately see that she is the perfect person to give Curie the complexity and dimension she deserves --as a scientist and as a woman. It's a short book which is by turns moving, informative, and intriguingly unexpected. I couldn't put it down.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Work of Literary Genuis!, November 29, 2004

By	Matthew B. Ellis (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author has discovered the truth of Marie curie's impoverished, Dickensian , childhood, has read papers sealed for 60 years (some radioactive!) to get this incredible story, the truth behind the legend. Every library should have this sensational and deeply inforrmative book and so should book clubs and anyone who wants a great read. A bestseller for sure. If there were more than five stars that's how I'd rate it.

A must read!!!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marie Curie Revealed: A Fascinating Saga, December 5, 2004

By	Thomas F. Folino (Upstate New York) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Kudos to social historian and biographer Barbara Goldsmith for her newest achievement, the insightful and compelling "Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie." This is no dry scientific treatise merely listing Curie's accomplishments in science, but an in-depth study of the very human side of this extraordinary woman and subsequently, the coterie of family, friends and peers who entered her realm. Ms. Goldsmith does make complicated scientific material accessible, indeed, understandable; however, she goes much further, examining the forces which aligned to create the eponymous Curie's character and enormous drive to achieve, which directed every aspect of her life. Through access to Curie's personal diaries and papers, previously unavailable for the past 60 years, as well as copious additional material, Ms. Goldsmith has culled a most fascinating portrait of a most fascinating personality. This book demands that yet another feather be placed in Barbara Goldsmith's literary cap (her previous titles include: "Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull," "Little Gloria...Happy At Last," "Johnson vs. Johnson," and "The Straw Man"). I highly recommend this biography to anyone interested in science, women's struggle for equal rights, the psychology of genius.......in short, anyone interested in an informative and thrilling "read!"