Author(s): Jeffrey Orens

Science

In 1911, some of the greatest minds in science convened at the First Solvay Conference in Physics, a meeting like no other. Almost half of the attendees had won or would go on to win the Nobel Prize. Over the course of those few days, these minds began to realize that classical physics was about to give way to quantum theory, a seismic shift in our history and how we understand not just our world, but the universe. At the center of this meeting were Marie Curie and a young Albert Einstein. In the years preceding, Curie had faced the death of her husband and soul mate, Pierre. She was on the cusp of being awarded her second Nobel Prize, but scandal erupted all around her when she became the subject of vicious misogynist and xenophobic attacks in the French press-a storm that threatened her scientific legacy. Albert Einstein proved a supporter in her travails. Young and already showing the flourishes of his enormous genius, Einstein had an instant connection with Curie at Solvay. Einstein recognized the grave injustice she was enduring, and their mutual admiration and respect, borne out this first meeting, would go on to serve them in their paths forward to making history. In these pages, Jeffrey Orens utilizes never-before-seen correspondence and notes and reveals the human side of these brilliant scientists in all their complexity and genius.