Excerpt of Remarkable Minds by Pendred Noyce

In many ways, Irène Joliot-Curie’s life echoed that of
her mother, the famous physicist Marie Curie. Like Marie,
Irène lost a parent at an early age, married a fellow
scientist, won a Nobel Prize with her husband, taught at
the Sorbonne, was refused admission to the French Academy
of Sciences, and died of a radiation-induced blood
disease. Calm and dedicated, Irène never appeared daunted
by her parents’ fame. She freely chose her life in
physics. “That one must do some work seriously and must
be independent and not merely amuse oneself in life—this
our mother has told us always, but never that science was
the only career worth following,” she said.

Irène Curie was born one month prematurely on September
12, 1897, in Paris, just after her parents returned from
a long bicycle ride. In 1897, Marie Curie was just
beginning the study of uranium rays that would lead to
her great discoveries. To help care for the baby while
her parents spent long hours in the laboratory, Pierre’s
father, Dr. Eugène Curie, came to live with the family.
Irène adored him. He taught her about nature and
introduced her to the socialist ideals she carried
through her life.

Marie carefully recorded Irène’s growth and development.
On vacations in Brittany, Irène’s father Pierre took her
on walks or bicycle rides, pointing out plants and
animals and talking to her about mathematics. Both
parents believed that children’s education should include
plenty of fresh air and exercise.

When Irène was six years old, her parents won the Nobel
Prize in Physics for their discovery of radioactivity,
although they did not travel to Stockholm to collect the
prize for another two years. Irène’s sister Eve, who grew
up to be a talented musician and writer with no interest
in science, was born the year after the Nobel award.

Two years after Eve’s birth, when Irène was nine years
old, their father Pierre was killed in a sudden accident,
run over in the street by a heavy, horse-drawn cart.
Their mother took over teaching Pierre’s course in
physics at the Sorbonne. Otherwise she withdrew into
mourning and did little but go to her laboratory and
visit the cemetery in the nearby village of Sceaux.
Eventually she moved the family into the village to be
closer to the cemetery.

Once in Sceaux, Marie pulled herself together enough to
help organize a cooperative school with other Sorbonne
professors, including Pierre’s former student, Paul
Langevin. Eminent scholars taught each other’s children
mathematics, science, Chinese, sculpture, or whatever
else interested both teachers and pupils. The children
were also physically active. “We did gymnastics,
swimming, bicycling, horseback riding . . . we rowed, we
skated,” Irène remembered.

But sorrow continued to visit. At thirteen, Irène lost
another father figure with the death of her beloved
grandfather. The following year, scandal broke over the
family when the tabloid press in Paris published a series
of letters, perhaps partly forged, between the widowed
Marie Curie and the married Paul Langevin. Newspapers
demanded that the “foreign” home-breaker, Marie Curie,
return to her native Poland, and crowds threw rocks at
the windows of the family’s house. Marie and her
terrified daughters sought refuge in the home of friends,
Emile and Marguerite Borel.