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Primary sourceSpeech1921

The Discovery of Radium

Marie Curie · 1921

An address Marie Curie gave at Vassar College in 1921 during her American fundraising tour for radium.

A speech she gave during her American tour that raised funds for the radium later presented to her by President Harding.

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What it is

This is a speech Marie Curie delivered at Vassar College in 1921, during a tour of the United States organised to raise money to buy a gram of radium for her research.

Why it matters

The speech shows Curie explaining her own discovery directly to an audience, and reveals how she used her international fame to secure funding for science.

Look closer

  • Why might Curie have chosen a college audience to explain her discovery?
  • What does this tour tell us about the cost of scientific research at the time?
  • What does a speech like this reveal that a scientific paper would not?

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.

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