Pierre and Marie Curie are working on research into radium. 1902.

Pierre Curie (1859-1906)

Autographed letter signed.

Two octavo pages on letterhead of the School of Physics and Chemistry.

Brown stain and trace of collector's stamp on the second sheet.

Paris. November 12, 1902.

"The processing of radium with the Institute's grant is progressing. Ms. Curie is currently fractionating radium-bearing barium chloride."

A rare and important letter from Pierre Curie, who, along with his wife Marie, was preoccupied with research on radium that would earn them the Nobel Prize the following year.

_________________________________________________________________

"Dear Sir, I once prepared the green potassium sulfate that I brought you by calcining the potassium sulfate in a very clean platinum crucible and then acting on the radium through a thin sheet of rubber – perhaps the rays used in this experiment are strongly absorbed by glass? As soon as I have a free product I will make another test.

The processing of radium with the Institute's grant is progressing. The major processing of 2 tons is complete, and Ms. Curie is currently fractionating the radium-bearing barium chloride obtained from these 2 tons.

Two more tons are currently being processed at the plant. We believe that we will be able to process a total of 5 tons of the residue from the uranium ore processing. Please accept, Sir, the assurance of my respectful and devoted sentiments. P. Curie.

_________________________________________________________________

In 1902, Pierre and Marie Curie succeeded in extracting a sufficient quantity of radium to determine its atomic mass. On December 10, 1903, in recognition of this research, the couple jointly received [along with Henri Becquerel] the Nobel Prize in Physics "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint investigations into the phenomena of radiation."