The Elements of Marie Curie How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science

New York Times Bestseller and Pulitzer Prize Finalist

From Dava Sobel—the acclaimed author who brought us Galileo’s Daughter and Longitude—comes a luminous portrait of the most famous woman in science, and the remarkable legacy she left behind.

Marie Curie remains the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences: Physics in 1903 and Chemistry in 1911. But this radiant biography reveals so much more than laboratory brilliance. Here was a woman who drove X-ray vans to WWI battlefields, raised two extraordinary daughters, befriended Einstein, and shattered every ceiling placed before her. After Pierre’s tragic death, she became the Sorbonne’s first female professor, transforming grief into groundbreaking discovery.

What makes Sobel’s approach uniquely compelling is her focus on Marie’s most enduring achievement: the community of women scientists she mentored and inspired. Through these pages, you’ll meet the brilliant researchers who trained in Curie’s laboratory—women like Marguerite Perey, who discovered francium, and Marie’s own daughter Irène, herself a Nobel laureate. Together, they illuminate a path that generations of women in science continue to follow.

With the same masterful storytelling that made her previous works bestsellers, Sobel weaves together scientific discovery, personal courage, and the power of mentorship. This is biography as it should be: intimate, inspiring, and utterly absorbing. Perfect for readers who loved The Glass Universe and Hidden Figures, and anyone who believes in the transformative power of persistence and passion.

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