Review by angorarabbit - The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science

angorarabbit 's review for:

The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science by Dava Sobel

4.75

informative inspiring medium-paced

Context: I read Eve Curie’s Madame Curie when I was a child and have also read Susan Quinn’s biography (though I read it too fast). I have always looked up to Madam Curie as an example of what women can do in a male dominated field.

The subtitle of Ms Soblel’s book is How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science so I was disappointed that there were no other female scientists mentioned until 20% into the book. Ms Sobel did give a clear and concise account of Marie’s life. She mentioned a few bits about the work in the Curie’s lab that I was not aware of or had forgotten. She also gives what might be a more balanced narration of the affair than I remember from Ms Quinn’s book.

What I really took away from this book was how many women worked at one time or other in Marie’s lab. And that these women were not DEI hires or receptionists, but women who had worked in other labs with male primary investigators (PI) , whose PI’s had written glowing recommendations. Some of these women went back to their home countries starting up their own labs. Maries was the only women at the first Solvay Conference but there were many women accepted in labs and classes that never are mentioned in the story of radioactivity. It makes me wonder what the male Primary Investigators of that time would think about that.

I think the book would be a good read for high school students interested in STEM studies or any one interested in women navigating male dominated careers in the early 20th century. The book gives a good background for the non-scientist of the early discoveries in radioactive elements without getting too deep in the weeds or overwhelming with jargon. It also gives a balanced perspective of what Marie Curie’s life and family’s activities, as well as her scientific, wartime, and political ones..

I would argue that the book did not spend enough time on all the elements of Marie’s lab. But that would have made the book longer and I’m afraid that some are almost lost through time and war. Just like the lives of the many men who also worked in the field are lost.

Content Warnings