The First Issue of Le Radium (1904)

Founded in 1904, le Radium (along with Jahrbuch der Radioaktivitat und Electronik) was the first scientific journal devoted to radioactivity and related subjects. Its first editor was Jacques Danne, an assistant to Pierre Curie. In 1910, following the Academie des Sciences rejection of her nomination for membership, Marie Curie stopped submitting her publications to Comptes Rendus, the academy’s journal, and instead published almost exclusively in le Radium and the Journal de Physique. The cover photograph features the three codiscoverors of the element radium, from left to right: Gustave Bemont (?), Pierre Curie and Marie Curie. Note: the figure on the left is sometimes identified as Henri Becquerel (clearly incorrect) or Petit, the Curie's assistant, rather than Bemont.

In 2002, another copy of the same issue sold for $2,868 at a Christies' auction.

Donated by Merril Eisenbud.

First Issue of Le Radium

Le Radium and ORINS

A first-edition of Le Radium, a radiation journal published by Marie Curie, is part of the collection, as is Bonnie Boleyn, a device used to standardize the calibration of imaging systems around the world.