Organizer, Promoter, Legend

fter the war ended in 1918, Marie Curie went back to doing whatever she could to raise money for the Radium Institute. She was becoming a living legend, and she resolved to make the most of her fame. The tale of her early struggles could inspire people to give scientists more help. As the tale was retold, it sometimes sounded as if she had done everything single-handed, although in fact she had relied, like nearly all scientists, on private and government funds and assistants.


Curie’s best opportunity came when a magazine article led to a “Marie Curie Radium Campaign” in the United States. The trip tired her out, and she was happy to let her daughters take her place at some functions. The effort paid off. She returned with a gram of radium—only a speck, but so fiercely radioactive that it could fuel thousands of experiments—as well as expensive equipment and cash for the Radium Institute.

Read what Marie wrote here.