39/Card26
From Various
[edit] Card 26
[edit] Summary
Polish physicist and chemist Marie Curie had a magnificent career. She won two Nobel prizes in 1903 and 1911 and became the first female professor at the University of Paris. Along with her husband, Pierre Curie, Marie discovered two new elements - polonium and radium. Sources speculate that such a pair of talented scientists must belong to the Ekaterina branch. If so, they clearly used their brilliant minds to track down the 39 Clues. Now, if only someone could discover what they were really researching....
| Card #26 - Founder: Marie Curie | |
 
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[edit] Top Secret
Stolen Archive file 26: Original article on Pierre Curie's death
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, I906.--EVENING EDITION
TRAGEDY STRIKES THE RUE DAUPHINE
(Photo of Pierre Curie)
PARIS -- An icy storm descended upon our fair city yesterday, halting the pace of life. Bakers could not leave their bakeries to buy ingredients; street urchins remained huddled in covered archways; and shopkeepers did not bother to open their stores.
The storm, a mass of ice and ferocious winds, disturbed daily routines and damaged personal property. It also claimed the life of one of our greatest scientists.
Pierre Curie left his house at 4:00 in the afternoon on April 19th because he had left something in his office - something important enough to brave the storm. In a hurry, he raced through the streets of Paris, battling the high winds and ice. As he reached the rue Dauphine, a carriage driver blinded by the thick blanket of snow, lost control of his cart and plowed into the esteemed scientist. The few onlookers rushed to help M. Curie, but he was already dead. The impact had killed him instantly.
The name of the coach driver has not been released to the public.
"The coach not only knocked down M. Curie," Theirry Laude, a cobbler from Lyons, explains, "it knocked over a lamppost as well." Another unidentified witness claimed it appeared as though the driver tried to hit M. Curie. No other onlookers corroborated this story.
M. Curie is best known for his research, along with his wife, Marie, in the fields of nuclear physics and chemistry. The two scientists share a Nobel Prize with Henri Becquerel for their discoveries in the isolation of radium and polonium.
Much of M. Curie's work remains a mystery to the general public. The University of Paris reports that he and Mme. Curie were continuing their work on magnetism, but refused to reveal specifics.
M. Curie leaves behind his wife and a daughter.
