;;-::"-

Ito im- this rate L; T-TATr'D^

:red Honor andDishonor lin :ory alls. Ped ent. -of- ; lit- in 1910,Marie droppedin at asa n a warm April night having an informal dinner with eto the Borels,who were severeblack dress she had lbe the Perrins.Instead ofthe now wore a fashionablewhite teur worn sincePierre's death she pinnedto her waist'She seemed low gownwith a singlepink rose replacedby a subtlerelaxation' the t.ansformed;the hard scowl "What Perrinasked Marguerite Borel was happenedto her?"Jean ted, the next morning. rie's Althoughsheprofessedtohaveno..sociallife,'andher inti- daughterEve later wrote that almost no one knew her mat;ly, Marie did havea small coterieof loyal friends consist- ing mostly of thosewho understoodher work: Therewere the dedicatedAndrd Debierneand JeanPerrin, an exPertin cath- ode rays,the disintegrationof radium, and the composition of heat and light. |ean'swife, Henriette,like Marie's sister Bronya,was a calmingpresence and addressedMarie with the intimatetu.Thenthere were the Borels:Emile, who had been named dean of the EcoleNormale Sup6rieure'and Mar-

165 Bansene Gorosurru

guerite,the daughter paul of Appell, dean of the Schoolof Sciencesat the Sorbonne. Hertha Ayrton, who was a well_ known scientistand pioneer in England,swomen, .igtrt, movement,also was a closefriend. Although Herthafvj in London,distance did not impedetheir friendship.Both were outsiders:Marie, polish; Hertha,Jewish. The author C.org. Eliot (Mary Ann Evans, who choseto write under a male pseudonym)had helped subsidizeHertha's education and had basedthe character of Mirah, the talentedIewish outcast in Daniel Deronda,on her. All of thesefriends were to be involvedin what wassoon to be calledthe..Great Scandal.,, What had happened paul was Langevin.pierre,s former studenthad long been a dearfriend orlne curies and he was Pierret chosensuccessor at the EPCI.Five years younger than Marie, he was a tall man with military bearing,p.rrl,r*rrrg eyes,a severebrush haircut, anda fashionablehandlebar mus_ tache.Langevin was both a physicistand a brilliant mathe- matician.In 1906,Langevin had reachedthe conclusionthat E = mC (energy.qul, masstimes the speedof light squared), only to find that a fellow scientistnamed Einstein hailalready publishedthis discovery. Marie Curie wrote to Henriette perrin that she ..greatly appreciated ILangevin's]wonderful intelligence.,,He [.rp.i her prepareher course lecturesat the sorbonneand refined her presentation.She found him a sympatheticfriend who wassoon asking her for adviceon what he termedhis,disas_ trous mistakeof a marriage"to feanneDesfosses, the daugh_ ter of a working-class ceramicist,who he fert held him bi'ck from greatdiscoveries through her violent nature and con_ stant demandsfor money.Langevin "as wrote that he wasdrawn to Marie to a light . . . and I beganto seekfrom her a little Obsessive Genius 167

of the tenderness which I missedat home."Jeanne Desfosses Langevinwelcomed Marie into their household,where Marie met the Langevins'four children.In the springof 1910,]eanne complainedto paul's Marie about cruelty toward her and Marie chastisedhim. In return,he showedMarie a harf-heared gash whereJeanne had broken a bottle over his head. Most of what we know of the Curie_Langevinrelationship comesfrom friends, accounts,and most significantlyfrom letters Marie wrote paul to which a detectivein his wife,s employpurloined from the deskat the smallapartment near the Sorbonne thar Langevinhad rented.Bylulyof 1910,these letterssuggest that paul Marie and had becomelovers. Here wasa friend,soul mate,and potentialpartner in sciencewho might replacepierre. It would be a secondchance for Marie to repeatthe best daysshe had known. with this ferventwish shewrote him,

It wouldbe sogood to gainthe freedomto seeeach other as much as our various occupationspermit, to work together, to walk or to traveltogether, when conditions lendthemselves. Thereare very deep affinities between us which only need a favorablelife situationto develop.. . . The instinct whichled us to eachother wasvery powerful. . . . What couldn,tcome out of this feeling?. . .-t b"li.rr. that wecould deriveeverything from it: goodwork in com_ mon, a good solid friendship,courage for life and even beautifulchildren of lovein the mostbeautiful meaning of the word.

Although shehad toleratedher husband'spast infidelities, /eanneLangevin, upon first suspectinghis relationshipwith Bansena Goroslrrrn

the famousMadame Curie, flew into aragethreatening to kill Marie. Perrin momentarily calmedJeanne, but sheand her sisterwaited in a dark streetnear Marie's apartment. As Marie walked by, feanne accostedher and ordered her to leave Franceimmediately or die. Afraid to return to her house, "This Marie fled to the Perrins.fean Perrin noted, illustrious woman had been reducedto wanderinglike a beastbeing tracked."Paul Langevin advised Marie that his wife was entirelycapable of murder and advisqdher to leaveFrance. Sherefused. Finally, it wasdecided tha[ temporarilythe two would no longer seeeach other. But wlen Langevinand Curie left Parisfor the InternationalCongrfs of Radiologyand Elec- tricity, JeanneLangevin told her sis/erthat the trip wasonly a subterfugeto hide their affair.sh/renewed her threatsagainst Marie and threatenedto expogdthem.When Marie arrived at the conference,Rutherford was the first to noticeher condi- "Madame tion. He wrote, Curie lookedvery worn and tired and much older than her age.She works much too hard for her health.Altogether she is a very pathetic figure."Stefan Meyer,who had developedhis own radium standard,was more cynicaland told Rutherfordthat the very visible attacks of nervesand exhaustionthat causedher to leavecommittee meetingsonly occurredwhen the discussiondispleased her. After the conferenceMarie and paul returnedto paris,and then shejoined her childrenin I'Arcou€st,on the northern coastof Brittany,a preferredsummer gathering place for sci_ entistsand professors(so much so it wasnicknamed..Fort Science").The Borelsand perrinswere in residence.Mar_ gueriteBorel had become Marie's close friend and confidante. One night Marie grabbedMarguerite's hands and pouredout her fear that though shewould walk through fire for paul ObsessiveGenius o kill Langevinhe might yield to Jeanne'spressure, desert science I her for a more lucrativeprofession, or sink into despair.,,youand {arie I are tough. . . . He is weak."In spite of this, just as shehad eave with CasimirZorawski, she deluded herself that they would ,use) find a way to be together. 'ious Marie avowedher love for paul and dramatizedthe fact eing that shewas risking her reputation for his sakeand might .,Think was evencommit suicideif thingsdid not work out: of rIlC€. that, my Paul,when you feel too invadedby fear of wronging two your children;they will neverrisk asmuch asmy poor little lurie girls, who could becomeorphans between one day and the :lec- next if we don't arrive at a stablesolution.', In what can only tly u be interpretedas a fit of jealousy,Marie cautionedLangevin tinst that if he resumedsexual relations with his wife and if she dat had anotherchild they would both be..judgedseverely by all ndi- those,alas already numerous, who know If that shouldhap_ ired pen it would meana definiteseparation between us. . . . I can I for risk my life and my position for you, but I could not accept :fan this dishonor.. . . If your wife understandsthis, she would use was this method right away." rcks This was followed by severalletters to paul, instructing ttee him, in a mixture of pragmaticcruelty and passionthat r. demonstratedher insensitivity,on how he might rid himself "Don't and of his wife. let yourselfbe touchedby a crisisof crying ern and tears.Think of the sayingabout the crocodilewho cries sci- becausehe hasnot eatenhis prey,the tearsof your wife areof ;ort this kind." Shepleads with Langevin,',WhenI know that you lar- arewith her,my nightsare atrocious. I can't sleep,I manage nte. with greatdifficulty to sleeptwo or three hours; I wake up out with a sensationof feverand I can'twork. Do what you can 'aul and be donewith it. . . . We can'tgo on living in our current L70 Bensene Gor,osntrrr state."Marie, who had to be cajoledinto marrying the placid "My Pierre,was now aflame.A letter ended, Paul,I embrace you with all my tenderness.. . . I will try to return to work even though it is difficult, when the nervous systemis so stronglystirred up." Langevin,however, seems to havebeen ambivalent. Once before he had separatedfrom his tegP€sfirous wife only to beg her to return. Langevindilno(leave his wife nor did he stop seeingMarie. The usuallyquiet Andr€ Debiernehad a loud argumentwith PaulLangevin, blaming him for Marie's increasingbad healthand emotionaloutbursts. She seemed distractedat work and paid little attention to her daughters. The situationwas made worse by a seriesof disappointments that struckMarie one after another:At the urging of friends and perhapsto makeLangevin proud, sheannounced her can- didacyfor a Chair in Physicsat the Academyof Sciences,the most powerfulscientific body in France.Members read their papers,met for symposia,and gavelarge grants for scientific study.The other applicantsfor this chair wereweak, save for EdouardBranly, an inventorwho wasinstrumental in helping Marconi developthe wirelesstelegraph. For this elitemale organization, Marie Curie'saction came as a bombshellthat resultedin negativecomment not only from men but from women who found her a threat to their "science femininity. is uselessto women,"wrote the influen- tial writer JuliaDaudet, and MadameMarthe Rdgnier,the "One famousactress, wrote in Le Figaro, must not try to make woman the equalof man."The right-wing tabloid newspa- persloosed a barrageof criticism,bringing up Marie'sPolish origins and antiwar statements.It was a harbinger of what wasto come. ObsessiveGenius

On Monday,fanuary 24, IgIl, membersof the Academy of Sciencesgathered for a vote. presidentArmand Gautier announcedthat everyonewas welcome to enter the chamber exceptwomen. on a secondballot EdouardBranly received thirty votes,Marie Curie twenty-eight.Her lossengendered sympathetic letters from many scientists,but the fact remainedthat Madamecurie, France'smost famousscientist and Nobel Prizewinner, could not presenther own papersat the academynor did sheever try to do so,writing insteadfor scientificjournals such as Comptesrendus. By the springof tgt l, Marie and paul,unable to separate, wereonce again secretly meeting in Langevin'srented paris apartment,but Marie wasworried that Jeannewas having her husbandfollowed and eventhat his eldestson might be spy_ ing on them. It wasat Easterthat the intimate lettersstored in a deskdrawer disappeared.A weeklater JeanneLangevin,s brother-in-lawpaid a visit to Madamecurie andtold her that theseletters were now in MadameLangevin,s possession and she wasprepared to makethem public. paul Langevin,in a rage over the stolen letters, left home for two weeksbut returned.On July 26, afteranother fight with his wife, paul left again,and Jeannefiled chargesof abandonment. Marie, worn down and frightened,sent Irdne and Eveto visit poland. the Dluskis'in At the end of the summershe joined them,then left for Brusselsand the lgll SolvayCon_ ference. Theseconferences, which attractedthe greatestsci- entific minds, wereunderwritten by ErnestSolvay, an affluent Brussels chemistand philanthropistwho had developeda new process for manufacturingsodium carbonate.Once again Paul Langevinwas there, as were Iean perrin, Albert Einsiein, planck, H. A. Lorentz,Max and ErnestRutherford among Bensena Gornsr'urn

TheSolvay Conference,rl9ll. Marie Curieand twenty-threemale scientists.Poincard onFurie's left, Perrin on herright. Standing Rutherfordbehind C'hrie; Einstein and Langevin,far right. others. In a thrilling moment while at the conference, MadameCurie receiveda telegramfrom the Nobel commit- tee announcingthat shewas the solewinner of a second Nobel Prize,thistime in chemistry.In the official letter that "producing followed, she was commendedfor sufficiently pure samplesof polonium and radium to establishtheir atomic weight, factsconfirmed by other scientists,and for her feat of producingradium aspure metal."Almost simul- taneouslya secondtelegram informed her that feanne Langevinhad releasedher lettersto the press.Marie left abruptlybut not beforehastily writing a note to Rutherford sayingthat sheappreciated that he had appointedher to cre- ate the radium standard,and was touched by all the kind attention he had shown her during the conference.She ObsessiveGenius explainedthat shehad hopedto shakehis hand beforeleav- ing but was ill and couldn't stay. Marie returnedto Franceand to venomouspublicity. The "she vindictive Boltwood declared, is exactlywhat I always thought shewas, a detestableidiot!" Marie Curie'shouse was surroundedby peoplewho threw stonesat her windows.She fled with her children to the Borels.The pressprinted her explicit instructionsto PaulLangevin on how to get rid of his wife and accusedher of being a home wrecker,a dissolute woman,a Polishtemptress, a Jew. The right-wing tabloid pressof the day had helpedbring Marie Curie fame,and put the Nobel Prize,which had been

*** -'".*,ffi|Li'iij**'

How dareMadame Curie try to enter the all- maleAcademy of Sciences?Prejudice against her was building and would soonexplode. 174 Blnraxe Gor-psurtn little noticed in the fiel\f science,on the map.Now not only did the presstopple an id\, but in so doing it cateredto both factionsof a divided public\ half a century,after France's humiliating defeatin the Franc'd{russian War, followed by the brutal exterminationof the ParisCommune, there had beenpolitical discordin France.The soleissue on which the majority agreedwas a desirefor revengeagainst the foreign invasionand the dishonorwhich Francehad endured.Anti- Semitism,chauvinism, and xenophobiabecame the keynotes of the powerful right. GabrielLippmann, who refusedto con- "the demn MadameCurie, was called few of color photogra- "a phy," and JeanPerrin, who defendedher, was branded fanaticDreyfusard." (In a burst of anti-Semitismin 1894,this sameright-wing press had hastened the convictionof the Jew- ish captainAlfred Dreyfus,falsely accused of being a spy.) Irdne was at schoolwhen a friend pointed to a headline about the affair in L'Oeuvre.She read the story and burst into tears.The ever-faithfulDebierne arrived and took her to the Borels.In the Borels'guestroom the frightenedMarie awaited "Md her children.Eve arrived and told MargueriteBorel, is sad,a little sick,"and then from what must havebeen her own "M6 desire, needscuddling." The stoic Irdne stayedclose to her adoredmother, who huddled in a corner and, in a rare gestureof affection,stroked Irdne's hair. The Perrinsarrived and volunteeredto take Irdne to their home. She refused "I insisting, can'tleave M6." Finally shewas persuaded to leave. Although all attention was focusedon Marie, it was as she had predicted,her daughterstoo weresuffering. Paul Appell, who with Debierne had deliveredPierre's corpseto Marie, turned on her asdid many former friends. He arrangedfor a group of professorsat the Sorbonneto ObsessiveGenius 175

demandthat MadameCurie leaveFrance. When Appell heaid that his own daughterhad taken Marie to live with her, hb calledher to his apartment.Marguerite Borel arrivedto find her fatherin a rage.'Why mix in this affair which doesn'tcon- cernyou?" he demanded.He announcedthat the next after- \ noon he wasplanning to seeMadame Curie and demandthat she leavethe country. He had arrangeda chair for her in "Her Poland. situationis impossiblein Paris.. . . I can'thold back the seawhich is drowning her." By her own account,Marguerite, who neverin her life had daredoppose her father,stood before him trembling.Then "If shedrew herself up and answered, you yield to this idiotic nationalisticmovement, if you insistthat MadameCurie leave France. . . I swearthat I will neversee you againin my entire life."Appell, who had beenputting on his shoes,hurled one acrossthe room. Beneathhis angerwas the fear that his "swept daughterwould be away"by this scandal,but he gave in and agreedto postponehis decision. Margueriteobserved that none of this would be happen- ing if MadameCurie werea man. Indeedno one had asked PaulLangevin to leavethe countryor condemnedhim. It was well known that Albert Einsteinhad sired an illegitimate daughterwhom he might haveput up for adoption,but in any caseshe was never seen again. In 1911every day, barring weekends,an averageof thirty-nine declarationsof adultery wererecorded in Parisiancourts. TWenty-four births in every hundredwere illegitimate. Marie's sin aboveall wasthat she wasnot just a mistressbut an emancipatedwoman when such women were regardedby both sexesas a threat. With the abortion rate at an all time high, newspapershad formed a coalition to eliminateadvertisements for midwivesoffering 176 Bensene Goroslrrrn

"discreet services."Agd,w-orse, here were letters that showeda passionatewomTr(1, respectablewoman was supposedto endure sex,n{relish it. For men the pleasuresof sexwere to be found outsidethe marriagebed. The presscontinued their attacklike vulturesfeeding on carrion. Bronyaand Casimir Dluski rushedto Marie'sside and facquesCurie defendedher. The whole affair had by now taken on an opdrabouffe tone. The right-wing journalist GustaveTdry wrote that Langevin "a was boor and a coward."Langevin challenged him to a duel. Duelswere illegal but frequent.After elaboratepreparations T€ry refusedto fire his pistol,saying that he did not wish to depriveFrance of one of its greatestminds. Langevintoo "I neverraised his pistol. am not an assassin,"he said.That endedthat. MadameLangevin, having succeeded in wounding Marie more than shehad hoped,finally signeda separationagree- ment that did not mention her. Three yearsthereafter the Langevinsreconciled and Paul took another mistress,an anonymoussecretary. Several years later, after having an ille- gitimatechild with oneof his former students,he askedMarie to find her a positionin her laboratory,and shedid. cHAPTER 17 "SheIs Very Obstinate"

aul Langevinweathered the storm. Marie Curie did not. Shortly after the scandalbroke upon this fragile woman,a memberof the Nobel Committeewrote her on behalf of the committeeasking her to refrain from com- ing to Swedento accepther prize.He citedher publishedlove "the lettersand ridiculousduel of M. Langevin"and addedin "If a stingingrebuke, the Academyhad believedthe letters. . . might be authenticit would not, in all probability,have given you the Prize.. .l' Thisjudgment added immensely to her pain,but shewrote back addressingan issuethat provokescontroversy even now:

Yousuggest to me . . . that the Academyof Stockholm,if it had beenforewarned, would probablyhave decided not to giveme the Prize,unless I couldpublicly explain the attacks of which I havebeen the object.. . . I must thereforeact accordingto my convictions.. . . Theaction that you advise would appearto be a graveerror on my part. In fact the

177 BerseneGolpsrrttrn

Prize hasbeen awardedfor discoveryof Radium and Polo- nium. I believethat thereis no connectionbetween my sci- entific work and the facts of private life. . . . I cannot accept the idea in principle that the appreciationof the value of scientific work should be influenced by libel and slander concerning private life. I am convinced that this opinion is sharedby many people.

A seeminglyharder, prouder, and moreaggressive Madame Curie attendedthe Nobel ceremony.She was accompanied by her sisterBronya and fourteen-year-oldlrdne. King Gustaf "personal bestowedthe prize and no one spokeof matters." In MadameCurie's acceptance speech she complimented other scientistswho worked in the field of radioactivitybut "The firmly establishedher own credentials. history of the discoveryand isolationof this substancefurnished proof of my hypothesisaccording to which radioactivityis an atomic propertyof matterand canprovide a methodfor finding new elements."Taking full credit for her accomplishments,she "isolating remindedthe committeethat radium asa pure salt wasundertaken by me alone."When shehad finished,there could be no doubt of who had madethese great contribu- tions to science. Marie then returnedto Paris.Nineteen days later shewas rushedto the hospitalwith what wassaid to be a kidney ail- ment. Somedoctors diagnosed old lesionspressing on her kidney. Others thought that perhaps she suffered from asymptomatictuberculosis. What wasnot saidwas that she had experienceda total nervousbreakdown and had fallen into the deepest,darkest depression of her life, more endur- ing than all the episodesthat had comebefore. Later she told \,, ObsessiveGenius t79

her daughter Eveth} this time shewanted to kill herselfand indeedsome of her let\ indicatethat sheplanned to com_ mit suicide. Sherefused tdtat and her weightdropped from 123pounds to 103.From the iitxpitat shewas ,.rriUy ambu_ lanceto be caredfor by the sistersof the Familyof SaintMarie, which dealt with both medicaland psychiatricailments. In Februaryshe underwenta kidney operation.She was con_ vincedthat she wasabout to die and instructedDebierne and GeorgesGouy how to disposeof her preciousradium. While Marie layin a perpetuallydarkened bedroom, Ernest Rutherfordtransformed the entireconcept of the atom. In a landmark experiment he aimed alphaparticles at a pieceof gold foil and observed that a few strayparticles bounced back from the foil. This ,,almost was,in Rutherford,swords, as incredibleas if you fired a lS-inch shelrat a pieceof tissue paperand it cameback at you.,'I.I. Thomson,stheory, which wasthe best any scientisthad comeup with, held that the interior of the atom consistedonly of electronsscattered throughoutas "plum in a pudding."But if that weretrue, then the alphaparticles travelingat greatspeed would havemoved right through. Rutherfordpostulated that the atom consisted largelyof empty space,but with a densecentral core, which he namedthe "nucleus.,'When an alphaparticle struck the nucleus,it bouncedback. shortly before her collapse,Marie had decidedto leavethe housein Sceaux, which had becomea tourist attraction,and in her absenceher daughters movedto a new apartmenton the ile st' Louisin paris in the careof a polishgoverness. The apartmentwas barely furnished.They did not seetheir mother againfor almosta year,when shevisited briefly with them at a housein Brunaywhich shehad rented under the