PREFACE. - x

(this is the first attempt to translate the the complete works of Pierre Currie from French to English)

French copied from this text in blue

English translations by DeepL in black

Pierre Curie, fils du docteur Curie, est ne a Paris le i 5 mai i85q; il fut eleve avec son frere Jacques qui resta toujours son meilleur ami et fut son compagnon de travail pendant de longues annees. II ne suivit pas l’enseignement du lycee, mais apres avoir pris des legons particulieres il passa son baccalaureat etcontinua ses etudes a la Faculte des Sciences, oil il n’eut pas de peine a obtenir a dix-huit ans le grade de licencie. Le niveau de cet examen etait d’ailleurs relativement peu eleve a cette epoque, et c’est par son effort personnel que Pierre Curie acquit ensuite sa grande instruction generate el son habilete d’experimentateur. Dans sa premiere jeunesse deja, il avait appris a s’interesser aux etudes experimentales a cote de son pere qui avait un gout tres vif pour les sciences naturelles et s’occupait frequemment d’experiences dans ce domaine. Des Page de quinze ans il se familiarisa avec la vie de laboratoire en venant souvent a I’Ecole de Pharmacie, oil son frere etait preparateur, et en prenant part a la preparation des cours de Physique et de Chimie. Le travail de laboratoire ne lui etait done point etranger lorsque, venant de passer sa licence, il fut nomme a la Sorbonne preparateur du professeur Desains. En meme temps commenga sa production scientifique.

Pierre Curie, son of Dr. Curie, was born in Paris on May 15, 1850; he was raised alongside his brother Jacques, who remained his closest friend and worked alongside him for many years. He did not attend high school, but after taking private lessons, he passed his baccalaureate and continued his studies at the Faculty of Sciences, where he had no difficulty obtaining his bachelor’s degree at the age of eighteen. The standard of this exam was, moreover, relatively low at that time, and it was through his own personal effort that Pierre Curie subsequently acquired his broad education and his skill as an experimenter. Even in his early youth, he had learned to take an interest in experimental studies alongside his father, who had a keen interest in the natural sciences and frequently conducted experiments in that field. From the age of fifteen, he became familiar with laboratory life by often visiting the School of Pharmacy, where his brother was a laboratory assistant, and by taking part in the preparation of physics and chemistry courses. Laboratory work was therefore by no means foreign to him when, having just earned his bachelor’s degree, he was appointed laboratory assistant to Professor Desains at the Sorbonne. At the same time, his scientific work began.

Cinq ans apres, il entrait comme chef des travaux de Physique a FEcole de Physique et de Chimie industrielles quivenait d’etre fondee, et pendant douze annees il conserva la meme situation. C’est seulement en 1890, alors que ses travaux l’avaient deja fait connaitre et apprecier depuis longtemps, qu’il devint professeur a cette Ecole, ou une chaire nouvelle venait d’etre fondee pour lui. C’est a cette epoque aussi qu’il fut regu docteur et qu’eut lieu notre mariage ; j’obtins l’autorisation de travailler avec lui a l’Ecole. Depuis l’annee 1900 il etait charge de cours a la Faculte des Sciences de Paris (enseignement du P. C. N.), lorsqu’en 1904, apres l’attribution du prix Nobel pour la decouverte du radium, une chaire fut creee pour lui a la meme Faculte ; en meme temps il quitta avec regret l’Ecole de Physique oil il avait passe plus de vingt annees de travail ininterrompu. 11 fut nomme membre de l’Institut en 1900. Le 19 avril 190b, alors qu’il n’avait pas encore quarante-sept ans, un accident tragique mettait un terme a sa vie (').

(‘) Une belle image de la vie de Pierce Curie a ete donnee par M. Langevin dans la Revue du Mois du 10 juillet 1906 (t. 11, p. 5).

Five years later, he was appointed head of the physics department at the newly founded School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry, a position he held for twelve years. It was not until 1890, when his work had already long since made him known and respected, that he became a professor at that School, where a new chair had just been established for him. It was also at that time that he received his doctorate and that our marriage took place; I obtained permission to work with him at the School. From 1900 onward, he was a lecturer at the Faculty of Sciences in Paris (teaching the P.C.N.), when in 1904, following the awarding of the Nobel Prize for the discovery of radium, a chair was created for him at the same Faculty; at the same time, he left with regret the School of Physics where he had spent more than twenty years of uninterrupted work. He was elected a member of the Institute in 1900. On April 19, 1906, while he was not yet forty-seven years old, a tragic accident brought his life to an end (').

(‘) A fine portrait of Pierre Curie’s life was provided by M. Langevin in the Revue du Mois of July 10, 1906 (vol. 11, p. 5).

Pierre Curie eut tou jours des moyens de travail tres restreints, et en realite on peut dire qu’il n’eut jamais un laboratoire convenable a sa disposition complete. Chef des travauxal’Ecole de Physique, il pouvait utiliser pour ses recherches, dans la mesure oil les besoins du service le permettaient, les ressources du laboratoire d’enseignement ou il dirigeait les manipulations; il a souvent exprime sa reconnaissance pour la liberte qui lui a ete laissee a ce sujet. Mais dans ce labora¬ toire d’eleves aucune salle ne lui etait destinee specialement ; Templacement qui lui servait le plus souvent d’abri etait un passage exigu compris entre un escalier et une salle de mani¬ pulations ; c’est la qu’il fit tout son long travail sur le magnetisme. Plus tard il obtint hautorisation d’utiliser un atelier vitre, situe au rez-de-chaussee de l’Ecole et servant de magasin et de salle de machines ; c est dans cet atelier que furent commencees nos recherches sur la radioactivite. Nous ne pouvions songer a y effectuer des traitements chimiques sans deteriorer les appareils ; ces traitements ont ete organises dans un hangar abandonne situe en face de l’atelier, et ayant abrite autrefois Installation provisoire des travaux pratiques de l’Ecole de Medecine. Dans ce hangar au sol bitume, dout le toit vitre nous abritait incompietement contre la pluie, qui faisait serre en ete et qu’un poele en fonte cbauffait bien mal en hiver, nous avons passe les meilleures et les plus heureuses annees de notre existence, consacrant au travail nos journees entieres. Depourvus de tous les amenagements qui facilitent le travail du chimiste, nous y avons effectue avec beaucoup de peine un grand nombre de traitements sur des quantites croissantes de matiere. Quand le traitement ne pouvait se faire dehors, les fenetres ouvertes laissaient echapper les vapeurs nuisibles. Tout le materiel se composait de vieilles tables de sapin usees, sur lesquelles je disposals mes precieux fractionnements de concentration du radium. N’ayant aucun meuble pour y enfermer les produits radiants obtenus, nous les placions sur les tables ou sur des planches, et je me souviens du ravissement que nous eprouvions, lorsqu’il nous arrivait d’entrer la nuit dans notre domaine et que nous apercevions de tous les cotes les silhouettes faibiement lumineuses des produits de notre travail.

Pierre Curie always had very limited resources at his disposal, and in fact it could be said that he never had a proper laboratory entirely at his disposal. As head of research at the School of Physics, he was able to use the resources of the teaching laboratory—where he supervised practical demonstrations—for his own research, to the extent that departmental needs permitted; he often expressed his gratitude for the freedom he was granted in this regard. But in this student laboratory, no room was specifically designated for him; the space that most often served as his refuge was a cramped passageway between a staircase and a laboratory; it was there that he carried out all his extensive work on magnetism. Later, he obtained permission to use a glass workshop, located on the ground floor of the School and serving as a storage room and machine shop; it was in this workshop that our research on radioactivity began. We couldn’t even consider performing chemical treatments there without damaging the equipment; these treatments were carried out in an abandoned hangar located across from the workshop, which had once housed the temporary practical training facility of the School of Medicine. In this shed with an asphalt floor, where the glass roof offered only incomplete shelter from the rain—making it sweltering in summer and barely heated by a cast-iron stove in winter—we spent the best and happiest years of our lives, devoting our entire days to our work. Devoid of all the amenities that facilitate a chemist’s work, we carried out there, with great difficulty, a large number of treatments on increasing quantities of material. When the treatment could not be done outdoors, the open windows allowed the harmful vapors to escape. All our equipment consisted of old, worn-out pine tables, on which I laid out my precious fractions of radium concentrate. Having no furniture in which to store the radioactive products we obtained, we placed them on the tables or on planks, and I remember the delight we felt when we would enter our domain at night and see, on all sides, the faintly glowing silhouettes of the products of our work.

Apres sa nomination de professeur a la Faculte des Sciences de Paris, Pierre Curie obtint, non sans beaucoup de peine, dans le service du P. C. N., un petit laboratoire provisoire compose de quelques pieces. II ne put en realite en profiler, ayant a preparer son nouvel enseignement, et ne vint y travailler regulierement qu’apres avoir acheve son cours du premier semestre 1905-1906, — le dernier mois de sa vie.

Les ressources materielles dont il disposa pour ses travaux pendant la presque total i te de sa carriere scientifique furent egalement tres restreintes. II n’eut un credit de laboratoire suffisant qu’apres sa nomination de professeur a la Sorbonne. Nos recherches si couteuses, relatives a la decouverte du ^radium, ont ete rnenees a bien grace a une subvention de l’Institut et a des dons prives.

After his appointment as a professor at the Faculty of Sciences in Paris, Pierre Curie managed, with great difficulty, to secure a small temporary laboratory consisting of just a few rooms within the P.C.N. In reality, he was unable to make much use of it, as he had to prepare his new course, and did not begin working there regularly until after completing his course for the first semester of 1905–1906—the last month of his life.

The material resources available to him for his work during almost his entire scientific career were also very limited. He did not have sufficient laboratory funding until after his appointment as a professor at the Sorbonne. Our costly research related to the discovery of radium was successfully carried out thanks to a grant from the Institute and private donations.

Et cependant cet bomme, qui s’est tou jours montre indifferent aux conditions materielles de la vie et totalement depourvu d’exigences person nelles, desirait avoir un laboratoire bien installe, un abri tranquille et favorablernent dispose pour sa vie laborieuse. C’etait un de ses reves qui ne devait jamais s’accomplir. II s’en preoccupait et y pensait souvent. On sait qu’il ne voulut point accepter d’etre decore; a l’epoque ou cette proposition lui a ete faite, il crut utile d’appeler l’attention sur l’objet de son desir, et dans une lettre quil ecrivit pour decliner la distinction qu’on lui offrait il s’exprirnait en ces termes : « Je n’eprouve pas du tout le desir d’etre decore, mais j’ai le plus grand besoin d’avoir un laboratoire. » Il etait, helas! plus facile de lui offrir ce dont il se desinteressait que ce qui l’aurait rendu beureux.

And yet this man, who had always shown indifference to the material conditions of life and was entirely devoid of personal demands, longed for a well-equipped laboratory, a quiet and comfortably furnished retreat for his laborious life. It was one of his dreams that was never to come true. He worried about it and thought of it often. It is known that he did not wish to accept an award; at the time this proposal was made to him, he thought it useful to draw attention to the object of his desire, and in a letter he wrote to decline the distinction offered to him, he expressed himself in these terms: “I have no desire whatsoever to be decorated, but I have the greatest need for a laboratory.” Alas, it was easier to offer him what he had no interest in than what would have made him happy.

Pierre Curie fut un de ces homines qui ont fait de leur oeuvre le but principal de leur activite et la preoccupation dominante de leur vie. Deja epris de la recherche scienti¬ fique alors qu’il n’etait presque qu’un enfant, il lui voua 1’elFort perseverant et le labeur incessant de sa trop courte existence, lui sacrifiant toute distraction, toute relation mondaine, le repos meme de ses vacances. Ainsi sa vie resta toujours en accord avec l’ideal de sa jeunesse, et, conformement a la pensee de ses vingt ans, exprimee dans des pages ecrites par lui a cette epoque, il reussit a « faire de la vie un reve, et faire d’un reve une realite ».

Grave et silencieux, il vivait volontiers avec ses pensees et ne pouvait supporter l’agitation exterieure. En dehors de son travail, il aimait surtout les excursions dans la campagne ; extremement sensible a sa beaute, il en connaissait parfaitement tons les aspects et en subissait le charme tranquille et vivant. Dans les environs cle Paris, clont il aimait la douce variete, aucun coin ne lui etait inconnu; il savail cjuelles plantes et quelles fleurs on y trouve a diverses epoques, et ce qui vit dans les herbes et les taillis, dans les ruisseaux et dans les mares. Plus dame idee a germe et muri, plus d’un projet de travail est ne dans ces courses vagabondes ou il lui arrivait souvent d’oublier l’heure en s’attardant dans ses reves.

Pierre Curie was one of those men who made their work the primary focus of their activity and the dominant preoccupation of their lives. Already captivated by scientific research when he was little more than a child, he devoted to it the steadfast effort and ceaseless labor of his all-too-short life, sacrificing every distraction, every social engagement, and even the rest he might have found during his vacations. Thus his life always remained in harmony with the ideal of his youth, and, in accordance with the thoughts he had at twenty, expressed in pages he wrote at that time, he succeeded in “making life a dream, and making a dream a reality.”

Serious and silent, he was content to live with his thoughts and could not bear external commotion. Outside of his work, he especially loved excursions into the countryside; extremely sensitive to its beauty, he knew all its aspects perfectly and was captivated by its tranquil yet vibrant charm. In the countryside around Paris, where he loved the gentle variety, no corner was unknown to him; he knew which plants and flowers could be found there at various times of the year, and what lived in the grasses and thickets, in the streams and in the ponds. More than one idea took root and matured, more than one work project was born during these wandering excursions, where he often lost track of time as he lingered in his dreams.

De caractere eminemment droit, loyal envers lui-meme et envers les autres, il s’efforgait en toute circonstance de conformer ses actes a ses opinions. Il etait convaincu que la conduite qui consiste a etre toujours d’accord avec un ideal moral eleve, en ecartant tout compromis et toute diplomatic compliquee, est precisement la conduite la plus raisonnable et la plus utile au point de vue social. Il lui a souvent fallu un reel courage pour se maintenir au niveau de cette concep¬ tion. Toutefois sa fermete presque intransigeante ne devenait jamais blessante ; elle s’alliait par une association rare a une grande douceur de caractere ; il ne s’y melait ni aprete ni amour-propre, et tout froissement etait ainsi exclu. Ce fonds de douceur joint a une grande bienveillance lui assurait la sympathie de ceux qui avaient [’occasion de l’approcher et l’affection de ceux qui se trouvaient souvent en rapport avec lui. Il etait toutefois tres reserve de nature, et sa vie interieure n’etait accessible qu’a ceux qu’il aimait.

A man of eminently upright character, loyal to himself and to others, he strove in all circumstances to ensure that his actions were consistent with his convictions. He was convinced that the conduct of always adhering to a high moral ideal—rejecting all compromise and complicated diplomacy—is precisely the most reasonable and socially beneficial course of action. It often took real courage for him to live up to this standard. Yet his almost uncompromising firmness never became hurtful; it was combined, in a rare combination, with great gentleness of character; there was neither harshness nor self-importance in it, and any offense was thus precluded. This underlying gentleness, combined with great kindness, earned him the sympathy of those who had the opportunity to approach him and the affection of those who were often in contact with him. He was, however, very reserved by nature, and his inner life was accessible only to those he loved.

La production scientifique etait pour Pierre Curie un besoin, et la conception qu’il en avait etait particulierement pure et elevee. Il ne venait s’y meler aucune preoccupation etrangere, de carriere, de succes, ni meme d’honneur et de gloire. Il etait do mine par le besoin de reflechir a un probleme, d’en poursuivre la solution sans epargner ni son temps ni sa peine, de la voir pen a pen se degager et se preciser, et d’aboutir enfin a un ensemble de resultats certains, constituant un progres reel dans la connaissance de la question. Bien que constamment preoccupe d’idees scientifiques d’interet general, il apportait a bexecution de chaque travail le meme soin consciencieux, ne jugeant aucun detail pratique indigne de son effort, n’ayant jamais pour but l’eclat du resultat ni beffet a produire.

For Pierre Curie, scientific work was a necessity, and his conception of it was particularly pure and lofty. It was untainted by any extraneous concerns—neither career, success, nor even honor and glory. He was driven by the need to reflect on a problem, to pursue its solution without sparing either his time or his effort, to see it gradually emerge and take shape, and to finally arrive at a set of certain results constituting real progress in the understanding of the issue. Although constantly preoccupied with scientific ideas of general interest, he applied the same conscientious care to the execution of every task, considering no practical detail unworthy of his effort, and never aiming for the brilliance of the result or the effect it might produce.

Ne se souciant en aucune fa^on de tirer parti de ses travaux pour obtenir des avantages materiels ou des satisfactions d’amour-propre, il considerait toute publication comme la consecration logique d’un resultat obtenu, la communication d un ensemble de faits ou d’idees clairement compris et relies. Il ne se laissait jamais entrainer a des publications hatives destinees a prendre date, car il disait et pensait sincerement que la qualite du travail importe plus que le nom de bauteur. Quand on lui parlait de questions de ce genre il repondait tranquillement : « Qu’im porte que je n'aie pas publie tel travail, si un autre le publie. » Bien des experiences sur lesquelles il ne s’etait pas forme une opi¬ nion suffisamment claire pour le satisfaire n’ont jamais ete decrites, et ii lui arrivait de s’occuper d?une question pen¬ dant longtemps, non sans resultats interessants, et de ne lien publier a ce sujet.

Unconcerned in the least with using his work to gain material benefits or satisfy his ego, he viewed every publication as the logical culmination of a result achieved, the communication of a set of clearly understood and interconnected facts or ideas. He never allowed himself to be drawn into hasty publications intended merely to be up-to-date, for he sincerely believed and stated that the quality of the work matters more than the author’s name. When people spoke to him about such matters, he would calmly reply: “What does it matter that I haven’t published such-and-such a work, if someone else publishes it?” ” Many experiments on which he had not formed a sufficiently clear opinion to satisfy him were never described, and it happened that he would work on a question for a long time, not without interesting results, and yet never publish anything on the subject.

Aussi, dans le champ tres vaste des problemes qui l’interessaient, aimait-il a choisir ceux vers lesquels ne se portait pas batten tion de nombreux chercheurs et dont il pouvait s’occuper en paix et sans precipitation. Apres la decouverte du radium et quand betude de la radioactivite eut ete abordee par beau coup de savan ts, Pierre Curie s’accommodait mal de la production fievreuse et de la rapidite des publications. 11 etait souvent tente d’abandonner pour quelque temps ce sujet ou son oeuvre a ete cependant si preponderante, et de se refugier dans des regions de la Science plus calmes et plus propices a la reflexion murie. 11 desirait surtout reprendre ses etudes relatives a la symetrie des milieux cristallises.

Moreover, within the vast field of problems that interested him, he liked to choose those that had not attracted the attention of many researchers and that he could study in peace and without haste. After the discovery of radium and once the study of radioactivity had been taken up by many scholars, Pierre Curie found it difficult to cope with the feverish pace and rapid succession of publications. He was often tempted to set aside for a time this subject in which his work had nevertheless been so dominant, and to take refuge in areas of science that were calmer and more conducive to mature reflection. Above all, he wished to resume his studies on the symmetry of crystalline media.