[12]The hypothesis according to which radioactivity is bound up with the atomic transformation of elements was first envisaged by Pierre Curie and by me, along with other possible hypotheses, before it was utilized by E. Rutherford. (See Revue Scientifique, 1900, Mme. Curie, etc.)
[13]By using the unusual energy of Alpha-rays E. Rutherford has obtained recently the rupture of certain light atoms, like those of nitrogen.
CHAPTER VII
THE NATION'S SORROW. THE LABORATORIES: "SACRED PLACES"
I shall not attempt to describe the grief of the family left by Pierre Curie. By what I have earlier said in this narrative one can understand what he meant to his father, his brother, and his wife. He was, too, a devoted father, tender in his love for his children, and happy to occupy himself with them. But our daughters were still too young at this time to realize the calamity that had befallen us. Their grandfather and I, united in our common suffering, did what we could to see that their childhood should not be too much darkened by the disaster.
The news of the catastrophe caused veritable consternation in the scientific world of France, as well as in that of other countries. The heads of the university and the professors expressed their emotion in letters full of sympathy, and a great number of foreign scientists also sent letters and telegrams. No less deep was the impression produced on the public with whom Pierre Curie, despite his reserve, enjoyed great renown. This feeling was expressed in numerous private letters coming not only from those whom we knew, but also from persons entirely unknown to us. At the same time the press printed articles of regret, bearing the stamp of deep sincerity. The French government sent its condolences, and a few rulers of foreign countries sent their personal expressions of sympathy. One of the purest glories of France had been extinguished, and each understood that this was a nation's sorrow.[14]
Faithful to the memory of him who had left us, we wished a simple interment in the family vault in the little cemetery at Sceaux. There was neither official ceremony nor address, and only his friends accompanied him to his last home. As he thought of him who was no more, his brother Jacques said to me: "He had all the gifts; there were not two like him."
In order to assure the continuance of his work, the Faculty of Sciences of Paris paid me the very great honor of asking me to take the place that he had occupied. I accepted this heavy heritage, in the hope that I might build up some day, in his memory, a laboratory worthy of him, which he had never had, but where others would be able to work to develop his idea. This hope is now partly realized, thanks to the common initiative of the University and the Pasteur Institute, which have aimed at the creation of a Radium Institute, composed of two laboratories, the Curie and the Pasteur, destined for the physicochemical and the biological study of radium rays. In touching homage to him who had disappeared the new street leading to the Institute was named rue Pierre Curie.
This Institute is, however, insufficient in view of the considerable development of radioactivity and of its therapeutic applications. The best authorized persons now recognize that France must possess a Radium Institute comparable to those of England and America for the Curietherapie which has become an efficacious means in the battle against cancer. It is to be hoped that with generous and far-seeing aid, we shall have, in a few years, a Radium Institute complete and enlarged, worthy of our country.
To honor the memory of Pierre Curie, the French Society of Physics decided to issue a complete publication of his works. This publication, arranged by P. Langevin and C. Cheneveau, comprises but a single volume of about 600 pages, which appeared in 1908, and for which I wrote a preface. This unique volume, which includes a work as important as it is varied, is a faithful reflection of the mentality of the author. One finds in it a great richness of ideas and of experimental facts leading to clear and well-established results, but the exposition is limited to the strictly necessary, and is irreproachable, one might even say classical, in form. It is to be regretted that Pierre Curie did not use his gifts as scientist and author in writing extended memoirs or books. It was not the desire that was lacking; he had several cherished projects of this nature. But he could never put them into execution because of the difficulties with which he had to struggle during all his working life.
And now, let us glance at this narrative as a whole, in which I have attempted to evoke the image of a man who, inflexibly devoted to the service of his ideal, honored humanity by an existence lived in silence, in the simple grandeur of his genius and his character. He had the faith of those who open new ways. He knew that he had a high mission to fulfil and the mystic dream of his youth pushed him invincibly beyond the usual path of life into a way which he called anti-natural because it signified the renunciation of the pleasures of life. Nevertheless, he resolutely subordinated his thoughts and desires to this dream, adapting himself to it and identifying himself with it more and more completely. Believing only in the pacific might of science and of reason, he lived for the search of truth. Without prejudice or parti pris, he carried the same loyalty into his study of things that he used in his understanding of other men and of himself. Detached from every common passion, seeking neither supremacy nor honors, he had no enemies, even though the effort he had achieved in the control of himself had made of him one of those elect whom we find in advance of their time in all the epochs of civilization. Like them he was able to exercise a profound influence merely by the radiation of his inner strength.