The Spark that Lit the Tinder

Carolyn Kirby

(Enter and pull off coat with a sigh.) Mmmm, its good to be home. (Pull off shoes.) Now all I have to do is write a biography about my mother, Marie Curie, and then perhaps I will take a vacation somewhere sunny with a beach. (Pull down hair.) Or by the time I get this book finished, maybe I could just retire to somewhere sunny with a beach. (Shakes head and sits down at a desk and shuffles some papers.) All right. I should start with a really good introduction. Something that speaks to Madame Curies greatness as well as her humanity. Something unique. (Rubs forehead. Stands. Starts to pace distractedly.) I want to write this and I want to do it justice but it is not exactly an easy subject. Mama raised me to be a strong, educated, independent woman but it certainly wasnt easy having a distracted genius for a parent whom I rarely saw. And when I did spend time with her it seemed like she was saying to me, Oh, dont worry dear. I am sure you will live up to my expectations. I mean I only did discover two new elements and win two Nobel Prizes. I am sure you can outshine that. Anyway, I always did feel that she loved Irene better and I barely remember Papa. (Sigh) (Rubs eyes and grabs notebook on the table.) Well, dredging up old grievances will not help me write an introduction to her biography. OK, hmmm (Pick up pen and write.) (Speak as if reading out loud.)

In the year 1897 (Crosses out) Too boring. (Write some more.) Marie Curie, my mother, (Crosses out) No, starting a book with that sentence would be I dont know wrong too personal. (Write some more) Manya Slodowska, as she was called in her youth, came to Paris a penniless Polish immigrant but soon transform herself into a scientific sensation. (Crosses out violently) Oh heavens, that makes her sound like Cinderella but not even she could transform her life into a happily ever after. Thats for certain. Plus Mama would have had to hit Papa over the head with a glass slipper before he stopped thinking science and realized he was in the middle of a ballroom. (Shakes head and crumples paper. Slumps in chair and puts her head in her hands.) I need an inspiration. No, I need a miracle. No what I really need is a coffee. But if I stop now to get one, I wont get anything done today. (Put head back down on table. Then lift head slowly.) Well, if inspiration wont come to me, I will just have to go to it. (Hurriedly gets up and slides off stage. There is a bump.) OUCH (Comes back on stage limping and carrying a box.)

When I told him to put away his toy train, I didnt mean to build a track in my closet instead of under the kitchen table. Three year olds I ask you. (Shakes head, sets box on table and pulls out a wooden spoon) How did this get here? (Pulls out hairbrush) Ive been looking for this! (Pulls out a stack of papers and tosses them one by one over shoulder. Dumps the rest on the floor.) Old bills (Rolls eye. Pulls out old book.) I knew it was here even if I did have to dig through dust and old debts to get it! (Opens book and flips a few pages) Oh, Im so glad I kept this! When I was little, Mama was often too tired to play so when we werent tired enough to sleep she would tell us stories about her childhood and sometimes about her work. When I was old enough, I wrote them down so I could remember them always. And here they are. (Reads and laughs.) Yes. I had forgotten. When Mama was a child, she read and read and all else ceased to exist for her. One day all her brothers and sisters stacked chairs on top of one another all around Mama while she was reading. She didnt even notice until she pushed back from the table upsetting all the chairs. When they tumbled down around her, she was totally surprised! Mama would never have wanted us to forget the fact that she grew up in Poland while it was under the oppression of Russia. Polish schools werent allowed to teach Polish literature or history. Students were only allowed to speak Russian. But Mama went to a special school run by a Polish patriot where they secretly taught in Polish. Once when a Russian inspector came, Mama was called upon to answer his nationalistic questions. She did answer him in perfect Russian which saved the school. But after he left, she cried in humiliation at having had to betray her own beliefs and her own beloved country. Later when the Russian czar was assassinated, Mamas teacher found Mama and her classmates laughing and dancing for joy. 3

(Flips through some more pages.) Mama always did have a thirst for knowledge. Science and math especially. She was first in her class in Science when she graduated from Sorbonne University in Paris and second in Mathematics. I dont know how she did it. I hate math! But she did it and did it with only barely passable French. Once, I remember her telling me, she forgot to eat for a long time and fainted in the library. Someone took her to her sister Bronyas house. Bronya made her stay in bed and eat steak and potatoes. And then, of course, she married my father, Pierre, who was even more absent minded than she. All they thought about, talked about and did was the laboratory work they shared. I think it was about the time of their marriage that Roentgen discovered the X-ray. His discovery caused quite a ripple when people realized that these rays could penetrate walls. Women took to wearing lead lined clothes and bathing fully dressed to protect their feminine modesty. (Shakes head and grins.) Then that horrid peacock of a man, Becquerel, got interested and discovered a new ray. Served him right that he didnt get any publicity for it. His rays caught Mamas interest to such a degree that she ended up conducting important research into his rays. She finally discovered that Becquerels rays were actually a phenomenon she named radiation. Becquerel even funded some of her research and was a part of her first Nobel Prize. But that wretched man took most of the credit and Mama was almost left out of the Prize what with only being a woman and all. Luckily someone protested and she was included after all. Good thing because she did most of the work. Mama got a second Nobel in Chemistry for separating out radium from pitchblende ore. The work required to do this was heroic and no one else alive could have done it. She won this Prize on her own and traveled to Stockholm to receive it. So there Becquerel. (Gets up and paces. Sits down.) Well, I will get to that later in the book. Right now I need an introduction! (Stares into space. Eyes widen. Starts to rapidly write.)

Imagine the year 1897. You are in Paris, France and it is snowing. A cold gust of wind whips downy flakes into your face where they alight on your eyelashes and melt on your cheeks. It is cold, even for Paris, and the Earth is wrapped in inky sky as the clock strikes ten. Cheerful lights sparkle in shop windows and faint music sighs as the door to an opera house opens. In the distance the Eiffel Tower stands, a beacon, defiantly shining through the dark and cold. Not far away, in the college district, a single gas lamp burns. Out of the glorious dazzle that is downtown Paris in December, the single light flickers dimly in a glass paneled atelier. This forsaken building, which is something like an unheated greenhouse with a leaky roof, is the unlikely laboratory of Marie Curie, and will soon house one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time. The thin woman who stands in the faint glow of the lamp sighs and rubs tired eyes. Coughing, she turns out the light and starts the weary journey home. For years Marie conducted slow, careful lab work and experimentation. Her methods were somewhat routine although her dogged determination and single minded zeal were not. But then with one startling hypothesis, Marie leaped into the realm of genius. Scientists of her time knew of the atom but they didnt know about the atom. They didnt know how to analyze something that they could not see, so they said that it was indivisible and left it at that. Maries hypothesis was simple. The rays must be occurring within the atom of uranium itself. In other words, this wasnt a question of elements being investigated but a question of atomic structure. This hypothesis was utterly simple and utterly alien from anything that had been thought of before. This hypothesis and the resulting train of thought and experimentation that flowed from it was Madame Curies greatest achievement. Like the spark that lights the tinder, this realization of measurable effects arising out of the cause which is atomic structure heralded a revolution in physics which later gave rise to the Atomic Age. (Puts down pen.) Yes, thatll do to start. And now for a well earned cup of coffee.