Skip to main content

Primary sourceSpeech20 May 1921

President Harding's Remarks Presenting a Radium Gift to Madame Curie

Warren G. Harding · 20 May 1921

US President Warren G. Harding's 1921 speech presenting Marie Curie with a gift of radium from the American people.

This speech documents the public honor paid to Curie by the United States government during her lifetime.

Ask Marie Curie about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Full text (public-domain edition)

About this source

What it is

This is the printed text of remarks delivered by President Warren G. Harding on 20 May 1921 at a ceremony presenting Marie Curie with radium donated by the American people. It was published by the US Government Printing Office.

Why it matters

The speech shows how Curie was publicly honored during her lifetime, celebrated both as a daughter of France and of Poland. It reflects the high international esteem for her scientific work and the diplomatic significance attached to honoring a foreign scientist.

Look closer

  • How does Harding describe Curie's connection to both France and Poland?
  • Why might the American government have chosen to give her radium specifically?
  • What does this ceremony suggest about Curie's fame outside the scientific world?

This speech is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Marie Curie on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Marie Curie sources

Meet the AI Marie Curie →
Cover of the January 1904 issue of the magazine Le Radium, showing a printed masthead and a photograph captioned Le Laboratoire de la Rue Lhomond. The photo shows two men and a seated woman among laboratory equipment and glassware, with the caption M. & Mme Curie below.Photograph

Primary source

Photograph of Pierre and Marie Curie in their Laboratory, rue Lhomond

c. 1898-1904

Title page of the 1904 second edition of Recherches sur les substances radioactives by Madame Sklodowska Curie, a thesis presented at the Faculté des Sciences de Paris. Published in Paris by Gauthier-Villars. Handwritten number 5 and a note appear in the top right corner.Book

Primary source

Recherches sur les substances radioactives

Marie Curie · 1904

Document

Primary source

Rayons émis par les composés de l'uranium et du thorium

Marie Curie · 12 April 1898

A museum display case showing a wooden mahogany box with its lid open and a round metal radium container inside, beside a separate lidded metal canister with a brass knob, a key on a chain, and a small cluster of tubes on the glass base.Artifact

Primary source

International Radium Standard

Marie Curie · 1911

Black-and-white photograph of a clear glass vessel with a flared conical bowl, a pouring spout on the left rim, and a short stem on a flat circular foot, set against a plain light background.Artifact

Primary source

Glass beaker used for the first radium salt solution

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Marie Curie now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions