Marie Curie: Honesty in Science

by Carl Rollyson

Professional biographer Carl Rollyson has pioneered a new kind of biography for children and adults alike. His narrative of Marie Curie's life is rendered in simple, precise prose, but he also includes material addressed to adults-especially to parents who wish some guidance in discussing what their children read. This home schooling biography also includes a timeline, sources for further study, a glossary, and an index.Vivid quotations from those who knew Marie Curie as well as a "points to ponder" section in each chapter are designed to provoke further discussion and research into the life and career of one of the century's greatest scientists and-as Rollyson shows-one of the most important figures in human history.At a time when the ethics of science and of scientists has been called into question, Rollyson's searching examination of Madame Curie's methods and morality makes this a sharply focused and challenging biography. The Marie Curie that emerges from this account is a woman of great integrity and self-discipline, acutely conscious of her historic role, keenly devoted to protecting her private life, and yet willing to shape her personality to the public roles demanded of her.

50 pages, Paperback

First published December 21, 2004

About the author

Carl Rollyson, Professor of Journalism at Baruch College, The City University of New York, has published more than forty books ranging in subject matter from biographies of Marilyn Monroe, Lillian Hellman, Martha Gellhorn, Norman Mailer, Rebecca West, Susan Sontag, and Jill Craigie to studies of American culture, genealogy, children’s biography, film, and literary criticism. He has authored more than 500 articles on American and European literature and history. His work has been reviewed in newspapers such as The New York Times and the London Sunday Telegraph and in journals such as American Literature and the Dictionary of Literary Biography. For four years (2003-2007) he wrote a weekly column, "On Biography," for The New York Sun and was President of the Rebecca West Society (2003-2007). His play, THAT WOMAN: REBECCA WEST REMEMBERS, has been produced at Theatresource in New York City. Rollyson is currently researching a biography of Amy Lowell (awarded a "We the People" NEH grant). "Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews, a biography of Dana Andrews is forthcoming in September from University Press of Mississippi. His biography, "American Isis: The Life and Death of Sylvia Plath" will be published in February 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of her death. His reviews of biography appear regularly in The Wall Street Journal, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Raleigh News & Observer, The Kansas City Star, and The New Criterion. He is currently advisory editor for the Hollywood Legends series published by the University Press of Mississippi. He welcomes queries from those interested in contributing to the series. Read his column, "Biographology," that appears every two weeks at bibliobuffet.com