Pierre and Marie CURIE thank you for being awarded the Gegner Prize.

Pierre CURIE (1859-1906)

Autograph letter signed to Marcellin Berthelot.

One page in-8° on School of Physics and Chemistry letterhead.

Crossed out collector's stamp and slight missing in the upper right corner.

Auroux. August 8, 1898.

Pierre and Marie Curie express their thanks for obtaining the Gegner prize which has just been awarded to Marie Curie.

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“Mr, Madame Curie and I are very grateful to the Academy for the decision it has taken regarding the award of the Gegner Prize . Please, Sir, personally accept all our thanks with the assurance of our deep respect. P. Curie. »

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Since 1871, the Academy of Sciences has awarded the Gegner Prize to a scientist distinguished by the seriousness of his work. In 1898, the prize was awarded to Marie Curie who had distinguished herself by her research on the magnetic properties of metals. She received the Gegner Prize again in 1900 and 1902, thus punctuating her progress towards her two Nobel Prizes (for Physics in 1903, then for Chemistry in 1913).

This letter is sent from Lozère where the Curie couple are spending their vacation to “breathe pure air after the noxious atmosphere of rue de Lhomond”. We might be surprised to see Pierre Curie respond to the announcement of a prize which was not intended for him, but it was he who received, for his wife, the congratulations of Marcellin Berthelot (and also of Henri Becquerel ).

With the Gegner Prize in their pocket, relieved by the 3,800 francs accompanying the reward, the Curies left aside the study of magnetism to devote themselves exclusively to that of radium and radioactive bodies.