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Tertiary sourceDocument1905

Skłodowská

1905

An entry on Marie Curie from Otto's Czech encyclopedia, published in 1905 during her lifetime, summarizing her discoveries and honors.

A contemporary encyclopedia entry summarizing Marie Curie's discoveries and the 1903 Nobel Prize during her lifetime.

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Source: Wikisource

About this source

What it is

This is an entry on Marie Curie (listed under her Polish name, Skłodowská) from Otto's encyclopedia, a Czech reference work published in Prague in 1905. It summarizes her education, marriage to Pierre Curie, their discovery of polonium and radium, and the Nobel Prize awarded in 1903.

Why it matters

Published while Marie Curie was still alive and active in science, this entry shows how quickly her discoveries became known and respected across Central Europe, not only in France. It reflects how an encyclopedia of the time chose to summarize her achievements for a general readership.

Look closer

  • What details does the entry choose to include, and what might it leave out about her life?
  • Why might an encyclopedia from Prague, rather than Paris or Warsaw, include an entry about her?
  • How does a reference-book summary differ from a personal account like a letter or diary?

This document 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

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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

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International Radium Standard

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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

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Glass beaker used for the first radium salt solution

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