Madame Curie Chapter Summary & Analysis - Part 2: Chapter 16 Summary

Part 2: Chapter 16 Summary

In June 1903, the Royal Institution in London invites Pierre to give a lecture on radium. In attending, Marie is the first woman ever been admitted to the sessions. The Curies are given an enthusiastic response, and in November, the Royal Society of London awards them the Davy Medal. Pierre goes to London to receive the medal without Marie, who is ill. He brings back the heavy gold medal and, not knowing what to do with it, gives it to Irene to play with. The same month, the Swedish Academy of Science chooses the Curies, along with Henri Becquerel, to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics. Pierre and Marie, "unwell and overworked," do not attend the ceremony.

Nevertheless, the prize makes them famous. Although the money that is awarded to them with the prize enables Pierre to quit teaching and to pay a laboratory assistant, the publicity brings them nothing...
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