Polish-born French physicist (1867–1934), she and her husband Pierre discovered two new elements, polonium and radium, in 1898. In 1911 she won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She died of leukemia brought about by her work with radioactive material. TLS in Polish, signed with an uncommon version including her maiden name, “M. Sklodowska Curie,” one page, 8.25 x 10.5, Faculte de Sciences de Paris letterhead, October 24, 1921. Letter to Jan Mosczenski. In part (translated): “At the end of September I received from the Polish Embassy in Paris a memorial book from the Polish emigrants in New York and vicinity and also a check for $500. In October, being in Warsaw then, I received a letter from the Polish Committee in New York dated Sept. 12, 1921.
Kindly convey to the Polish Committee my heartiest thanks for the precious memorial and money gift. I am exceedingly sorry that circumstances did not allow me to directly meet the Polish committee in New York. The matter would have certainly been arranged differently if the plan of my journey had been known to me sooner and if the correspondence with the Polish committee had been conducted before my departure from Paris. Owing to the fact that the American committee had very little time for arranging its program, and that the carrying out of the whole program seemed impossible on account of my health, I was unable to make any further changes. Misunderstandings which might have arisen were solely due to the haste in which the journey was decided and arranged and therefore difficult to conduct proper correspondence with America.
With your assistance, my dear Sir, I am pleased to notify the Polish committee in New York that during my stay in Warsaw an advisory committee has been formed in which the government and the people are to join. The central committee which is to take care of this matter will turn to the Polish emigrants in New York also. To this committee I shall give the $500 which I have received from the Polish committee and also all future gifts which the Poles in America would care to donate. When the new Institute arises I intend to place in its archives the memorable book from my countrymen in New York as a token of their valuable sympathy for me and for my activities.”
In fine condition, with central horizontal and vertical folds, with vertical fold through first initial of signature and a couple small spots.
Following World War l, Curie struggled to obtain enough of the increasingly expensive radium needed for her research at the newly founded Radium Institute in Paris. When an American fundraising effort resulted in the purchase of a $100,000 gram of the element to be given to the scientist, Curie made her first trip to the US. After touring chemical extraction facilities and receiving the generous donation from President Harding in a celebrated ceremony, she returned to Paris to find the book and $500 check from the Polish Committee in New York. Expressing gratitude and regret for being unable to meet with the Committee while on her trip, Curie discusses her intentions to build a research laboratory in Warsaw. After over a decade of work, and thanks in large part to another gift of funds from the US, the Radium Institute in Warsaw was finally opened in 1932. As befits a message to fellow Poles, Curie has signed this letter with her maiden name “Sklodowska” as well as her married name. The first time we have ever seen this form of her signature, this is a fine memento of her Polish origins, as well as of her celebrated visit to the US and her postwar research that would have never been possible without donations such as the one prompting this letter. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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