The Soul Of Genius: Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, And The Meeting That Changed The Course Of Science

A prismatic look at the meeting of Marie Curie and Albert Einstein and the impact these two pillars of science had on each other's life and work. In 1911, some of the greatest minds in science convened at the First Solvay Conference in Physics, a meeting like no other. Almost half of the attendees had won or would go on to win the Nobel Prize. Over the course of those few days, these minds began to realize that classical physics was about to give way to quantum mechanics, a seismic shift in our history and how we understand not just our world, but the universe. At the center of this meeting were Marie Curie and a young Albert Einstein. In the years preceding, Curie had faced the death ofher husband and intellectual soul mate, Pierre. She was on the cusp of being awarded her second Nobel Prize, but scandal erupted all around her when the French press revealed that she was having an affair with a fellow scientist, Paul Langvin. The subject of vicious misogynist and xenophobic attacks in the French press, Curie found herself in a storm that threatened her scientific legacy. Albert Einstein proved an ally in her travails. They had an instant connection at Solvay. He was young and just beginning to show flourishes of his enormous genius. Curie was already responsible for one of the greatest discoveries in modern science (radioactivity)—still faced resistance and scorn. Young Einstein recognized this grave injustice, and their mutual admiration and respect, borne out of this, their first meeting, would go on to serve them in their paths forward to making history. Einstein and especially Curie come alive as the complex people they were in the pages of The Soul of Genius. Utlizing never before seen correspondance and notes from Solvay, Jeffrey Orens shows the human side of a woman who pushed boundaries and demanded equality in a man’s world, no matter the cost.

• | Author: Jeffrey Orens
• | Publisher: Pegasus Books
• | Publication Date: July 06, 2021
• | Number of Pages: 336 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 164313714X
• | ISBN-13: 9781643137148