WOMEN IN CHEMISTRY 227 



Lord Kelvin, they were awarded the Davy gold medal by 

 the Koyal Society. Shortly after this they shared with 

 M. H. Beequerel in the Nobel prize for physics bestowed 

 on them by Sweden. Then came laggard France with its 

 decoration of the Legion of Honor. But it was offered 

 only to the man. There was nothing for the woman. Pierre 

 Curie showed his spirit and chivalry by declining to accept 

 the proffered honor unless his wife could share it with him. 

 His answer was simple, but its meaning could not be mis- 

 taken. ' ' This decoration, ' ' he said, "has no bearing on my 

 work." 1 



Shortly after her husband's death Mme. Curie was ap- 

 pointed as his successor as special lecturer in the Sorbonne. 

 This was the first time that this conservative old univer- 

 sity ever invited a woman to a full professorship. But she 

 soon showed that she was thoroughly competent to fill the 

 position with honor and eclat. She has the elite of society 

 and the world's most noted men of science among her au- 

 ditors. The crowned heads of the Old World eagerly seek 

 an opportunity to witness her experiments and hear her 

 discourse on what is by all odds the most marvelous ele- 

 ment in nature. 



Mme. Curie has not allowed her lectures in the Sorbonne 

 to interfere with the continuation of the researches which 

 have won for her such world-wide renown. Since the sud- 

 den taking off of her husband by a passing truck on a 

 Paris bridge, she has succeeded in isolating both radium 

 and polonium only the chlorides and bromides of these 

 elements were previously known besides doing other work 

 scarcely less remarkable. And besides all this, she has also 



iThe day following Pierre Curie's refusal of the decoration 

 offered by the Government, the elder of his two daughters, little 

 Irene, climbed upon her father's knee and put a red geranium in 

 the lapel of his coat. "Now, papa, " she gravely remarked, "you 

 are decorated with the Legion of Honor. " "In this case," the 

 fond father replied, "I make no objection." 



