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Whenever I pick up a book by Dava Sobel, I can never suppress a gleeful expectation that I have a tasty literary treat in my hands. It has happened three times before with Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time; Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love; and Letters to Father: Suor Maria Celeste to Galileo. That makes The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science, my fourth data point, enough to constitute a solid trend in my book for Ms. Sobel’s ability to research and write enormously entertaining and interesting works of nonfiction.

I will confess that I fell into the trap of associating Marie Curie with the discovery of radium, and then remaining completely ignorant of the momentous significance of that scientific event. In fact, Marie Curie was truly a multi-dimensional woman in all the best ways. On the one hand, she was a precious daughter, an affectionate sibling, a loving wife, and a devoted mother. On the other, she was a towering intellectual, an exemplary scientist, and a veritable trailblazer for women in science.

Marie lived in a time (1867-1934) when it was firmly believed that women simply didn’t have the mental and physical capabilities to be scientists. Women were dismissed as an entire demographic in very condescending language to the extent they were even barred from entering academic institutions. Thanks to a progressive-minded father sending her to France, she was able to study at the equally progressive Sorbonne University. Within two years, she not only learned French, but topped the class in physics and began her doctorate degree. She also met her future husband, Pierre Curie, who consistently promoted Marie as his equal is all respects.

Marie’s list of firsts is impressive: first woman in France to earn a PhD; first woman professor at the Sorbonne University; first woman to win a Nobel Prize; first woman to win a second Nobel Prize; and first and only person—man or woman—to win two Nobel Prizes in different science disciplines. Her discovery of polonium and radium increased her recognition in the scientific domain, and her related groundbreaking hypothesis declared that radiation from radioactive (a term Marie coined) elements was not the result of molecular interaction, but emanated from atoms themselves. This enabled the opening of floodgates for studying elements at the atomic and subatomic level.

Despite her growing global reputation (including two visits to America when she wowed society and academia), countless medals, monetary awards, and numerous honorary degrees, she was noted for her modesty and self-effacing nature. She was a pure scientist forever attempting to dodge the limelight, telling persistent reporters, “In science, we should be interested in phenomena, not individuals.� To be a scientist was also “to push against the limits of knowledge, to pursue the secrets of matter and of life with no preconceived idea of the eventual outcome.�

Based on Dava Sobel’s uniquely-angled biography, I am of the belief that if Marie Curie could dictate her legacy, she would wish it to be about how she used her fame, recognition, and personal resources to facilitate the way for other prospective women scientists to achieve what she achieved. With The Elements of Marie Curie, Ms. Sobel has written another five-star winner!