Pierre CURIE feels guilty about his lack of support for his brother.

Pierre CURIE (1859-1906)

Signed autograph letter.

Three pages in-8° on School of Physics and Chemistry letterhead.

Paris. March 19, 1894.

“I do not have a clear conscience regarding my brother, it seems to me that I have poorly fulfilled the mission that I had given myself to defend him…”

Pierre Curie feels guilty about his lack of support for his older brother, Jacques, who had applied, unsuccessfully, for an academic chair.

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“Dear Sir, I thank you very much for having so obligingly sent me, immediately, the result of the deliberation of the duty council. I had no illusions about this result. And yet, today, I do not have a clear conscience regarding my brother, it seems to me that I poorly fulfilled the mission that I had given myself to defend him in this circumstance .

I was unable to assert his scientific credentials from a geological point of view, which are very serious. My brother took care of the volcanic rocks of Algeria. For three years he traveled and studied and the dissertation he gave is highly appreciated by petrographers and geologists. Finally, today he is making a map of the surroundings of Mende for the geological map of France service. It seems to me that he could perfectly occupy a chair of geology and mineralogy , if he were assisted by a lecturer for paleontology.

Mr. Delage's unique work is, on the contrary, judged very harshly by geologists and the directors of the map refused to admit Mr. Delage among their collaborators.

I regret not having given this information to your father [Marcelin Berthelot] who could have used it since he was kind enough to warmly plead my brother's cause. Thank him for me, please, and give him the assurance of all my respect. Please accept the expression of my best feelings. P. Curie . The chair of mineralogy that we want to create in Lyon has been formally promised to Mr. Offret, so there is nothing for my brother in that regard. »

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Pierre Curie's first research work was carried out in collaboration with his older brother, Jacques Curie (1856.1941), then Charles Friedel's trainer at the Sorbonne mineralogy laboratory. The two young men studied the electrical properties of crystals and discovered, in 1880, the phenomenon of piezoelectricity (the production of electricity by compressing or stretching certain materials). The brothers collaborated until 1883, when they separated. Jacques is appointed professor of mineralogy at the Faculty of Sciences of Montpellier, and Pierre is appointed project manager at the brand new Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry of the City of Paris (EPCI).

From 1887, Jacques taught for three years at the Algiers School of Sciences alongside his research. He was not appointed to the chair of Physics at the University of Montpellier until 1903.