Halftone photograph Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934) Untersuchungen über die radioaktiven Substanzen Brunschweig: Friedrich Viewig and Son, 1904 Science, Industry and Business Library, The New York Public Library     (156 k)

Before her marriage, Marie Sklodowska received degrees in physics and mathematics from the Sorbonne in Paris. She met Pierre Curie, director of laboratory work at the École, in the spring of 1894 and they were married the following year.

Recherches sur les substances radioactives (1904) was the second, revised edition of her 1903 doctoral thesis, and presents her research in radioactivity from 1897 to 1904. This image, from the German translation of that edition, demonstrates the effectiveness of passing beta and gamma rays through nonmetallic substances to achieve an effect very much like Röntgen's X ray. Various metallic objects, such as this key and coin in a coin purse, become visible when beta and gamma rays are stopped by the metal.