Curie

Well written and edited. Comprehensive yet succinct. Relevant photos. Essay about Irene an excellent feature.

This book goes beyond discussing the scientific achievements of Marie Curie, as well as the many tragedies she had to go through in life. It also focuses on her early life as a young Polish patriot under the oppressive heel of Russian rule. The young Curie describes attending a kulig, a traditional Polish sleigh party that was recognizably an act of resistance against Russian cultural domination. As a schoolgirl, the Marie Curie would walk to Saxony Square in Warsaw and spit on the obelisk set up by the Russia tsar. When she was older, Curie attended the "Floating University", an underground academy that held secret classes in living rooms and meeting halls. Not mentioned is the fact that the "floating university" was revived after the Germans conquered Poland during WWII and abolished all higher learning for Poles. A stirring read!