My Marie Curie Obsession Continues

I've been a sort of Marie Curie kick lately. And it's no surprise why! She was a fascinating woman whose story continues to inspire over 100 years later.

I'm not sure what initially sparked my obsession. All I know is one day I found myself on my library's online catalog checking out several books about her. Books I promptly read and returned to the branch, and then turned around and bought for my home library.

Ever since then, I've been known to drop little tidbits about her into all kinds of conversations, and most people who've gone on a bike ride with me recently have heard this story! Heck, I've got at least three different draft blog posts about some of the interesting things I have learned about her just waiting for me to finish and publish!

So, when I saw this mug from Auberg Designs on Society 6, I absolutely had to treat myself. Even though I already have way too many tea mugs for one person to use. And it's too pretty to hide in a cabinet. Instead, it's enjoying a prestigious spot on my desk bookshelf, holding up some of my more popularly used research books.

Now if only I could afford the beautiful Marie Curie silver pendant! In the meantime, I hope you all want to read all kinds of anecdotes about Marie Curie, because I've got some to share.

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Marie Curie - cyclist?

I am in the middle of a kind of Marie Curie kick it seems. After reading Julie Des Jardins' thought-provoking The Madame Curie Complex [affiliate link], I felt compelled to do my own research into the life and work of a woman who seems to have become more legend than anything else.

I am currently about halfway through the biography by Eve Curie, Madame Curie [affiliate link], and while I have had to put the book down for a while to process the heartbreak of Pierre's death, I keep going back to this photograph of the two of them with their prized bicycles.

The story we most often hear about Marie Curie is the one about her absolute dedication to her research and the endless hours she spent in her laboratory. These are certainly honorable, if super-human, traits worth celebrating, but I have to wonder why we so rarely hear about her more mundane and human moments? I am thoroughly fascinated by her research and the Eureka! moments as well as the years-long hard labor to prove her ideas. But I am equally fascinated to know how she and Pierre organized their home life, and what they did in their rare moments of relaxation. Maybe it's just a matter of human nature, but all while reading about the life and work of this remarkable woman, I am enjoying little pings of "hey, me too!' when I find threads of similarity between her life and mine.

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