The Mark of a Giant by Ted Stewart & Chris Stewart

Author:Ted Stewart & Chris Stewart [Stewart, Ted]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Inspiration
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Published: 2013-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

Marie’s Quest

Pierre and Marie settled into married life. They were determined to keep their life as a couple as simple as had been their lives apart. They refused furniture offered by Pierre’s family because it would require too much upkeep. “They had what they needed: two chairs, a white wooden table to work on and eat at, plenty of bookshelves and a bed . . . the walls were bare. This was decorating ‘a la Marie,’ a style with no concession to true comfort or gracious living—which she would never modify but adhere to as long as she lived.”21

Pierre continued his work at the Paris School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry, earning a meager salary. Marie took the examination that would allow her to teach at a girls school (of course, receiving the highest grade on the exam), but she continued her work on the magnetic qualities of steel. She still needed a laboratory. Out of respect for her husband, she was offered a space to conduct her research in a corridor alongside her husband’s own makeshift laboratory.

Then Marie learned that she was pregnant. Letters exchanged between her and Pierre during this time show how much in love they now were. The brilliant Mr. Curie referred to Marie as his “dear little child whom I love so much.” He discussed in detail the type of baby accessories that would be necessary and the baby clothes that were preferred. Marie, in turn, wrote, “My dear husband. Come quickly. I am awaiting you from dawn to dusk . . . I love you with all my heart.”22

In September 1897, Marie gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Irene. Marie was a devoted mother. She immediately began a new journal in which she recorded every incident in the growth and development of her daughter: her first tooth, her first words, her every indication of superior intelligence. She referred to Irene in letters to Poland as her “little Queen.”23

Even while she was working, Irene was always on her mind. When she returned to her experiments, a nurse was hired to care for the baby, “though that didn’t shield Marie from the occasional, irrational fear that her baby was sick or missing, a fear that would send her hurrying in a panic from the School of Physics and Chemistry to a nearby park or to her home to check that Irene was safe in her nurse’s care.”24 The motherly instincts of Marie Curie were real and pronounced and dominated the rest of her life.

When Pierre’s mother passed away, Pierre’s father moved into the Curies’ home and assumed responsibility for the care of Irene while Marie was in the laboratory. He became a dearly loved member of the household.

Despite marriage and motherhood, Marie remained a committed scientist. She could not abandon her decade-long desire to become a “somebody” in science. She knew that in order to accomplish that goal, she had to do something that no other woman in European history had every done—receive her PhD in science.

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