What a Disappointment She Must Have Been to Her Parents

[beamjockey]

Eve Curie has passed away at the age of 102.

The saddest sentence in the obituary:

As her interests were musical and literary rather than scientific, Eve Curie was the only member of her family who did not win a Nobel Prize.

Comments

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Feh.. what a Slacker!

Actually, my daughter S just did a biography on Marie Curie and wrote a little about Eve.

[liveavatar.livejournal.com]

Ah, rebellious youth.

"See this National Book Award, Mom? In. Your. Face!"

[lauriemann.livejournal.com]

One had the impression that Marie viewed Eve as "the different" one. Eve was much more outgoing than her mother or her sister, so she handled public appearances in place of her mother, particularly when they toured the States in the '20s. Eve was also a concert pianist.

[lauriemann.livejournal.com]

Irene also died of leukemia.

Pierre certainly suffered from severe overwork. He was killed in a traffic accident in 1906. I've read quite a lot about the Curies over the years, and don't remember reading any speculation on that subject. However, the Secret History of the War on Cancer (by Pittsburgher Devra Davis; basically a pretty good book) claims he suffered from cataracts. The cataracts were caused by radiation exposure, which made him unable to see the cart that hit him. Marie Curie certainly had severe cataracts late in life, but I don't remember ever reading that Pierre Curie had that. I even wrote to Devra about that. If anyone has any additional information on any physical ailments Pierre Curie might have developed due to radiation exposure, I'd be curious to see it.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

That's all a matter of perspective. After all, my family is still disappointed that I've been quoted extensively in various newspapers, from the New York Times on down, and not once has my name been prefaced with "convicted axe murderer and cannibal" or suffixed with "before being taken down in a hail of police gunfire."

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I recently heard that Marie Curie was something of a cold fish, regarding anything that didn't have to do with her laboratory. I very much hope I'm wrong.

[lauriemann.livejournal.com]

That's generally true. She was very focused on work.