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Secondary sourcePainting1904

Radium

Julius Mendes Price · 1904

A 1904 Vanity Fair caricature of Pierre and Marie Curie, poking fun at their sudden fame after winning the 1903 Nobel Prize.

This satirical print captures how the Curies' Nobel Prize transformed them into celebrities in the public eye.

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Colored Vanity Fair caricature titled Radium. A woman in a dark dress with a white collar stands by a laboratory bench with glass tubes, flasks, and a microscope. A bearded man in a tan jacket raises a glowing spark in his hand. Signed JMP.
Julius Mendes Price, Radium (Vanity Fair caricature), 1904.

About this source

What it is

This is a colored caricature titled 'Radium,' drawn by Julius Mendes Price and published in Vanity Fair in 1904. It shows a stylized version of Pierre and Marie Curie in a laboratory setting.

Why it matters

The caricature was made shortly after the Curies won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics, when they became internationally famous almost overnight. It shows how the public and press reacted to their discovery of radium, turning serious scientists into celebrities and even figures of humor.

Look closer

  • Why do you think the artist chose to draw radium as a glowing spark held by Pierre?
  • What does the depiction of Marie tell us about how women scientists were seen at the time?
  • Is this image a reliable source about the Curies' actual work, or does it tell us more about public perception?

This painting 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.

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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

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