About this item
Published to widespread acclaim, in Marie Curie and Her Daughters, science writer Shelley Emling shows that far from a shy introvert toiling away in her laboratory, the famed scientist and two-time Nobel prize winner was nothing short of an iconoclast. Emling draws on personal letters released by Curie's only granddaughter to show how Marie influenced her daughters yet let them blaze their own paths: Irene followed her mother's footsteps into science and was instrumental in the discovery of nuclear fission; Eve traveled the world as a foreign correspondent and then moved on to humanitarian missions. Emling also shows how Curie, following World War I, turned to America for help. Few people know about Curie's close friendship with American journalist Missy Meloney, who arranged speaking tours across the country for Marie, Eve, and Irene. Months on the road, charming audiences both large and small, endeared the Curies to American women and established a lifelong relationship with the United States that formed one of the strongest connections of Marie's life. Factually rich, personal, and original, this is an engrossing story about the most famous woman in science that rips the cover off the myth and reveals the real person, friend, and mother behind it.
About the Author
Hailing from the Lone Star State, Shelley Emling studied journalism at the University of Texas in Austin before setting off to New Orleans to do the 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. reporting gig for UPI. And that was just the beginning of an ongoing effort to satisfy her wanderlust.Indeed, in 1990, she left with $2,000 to her name for Guatemala, bound and determined to become a foreign correspondent. While there, she and her (then boyfriend) eloped and she wrote a book called Your Guide to Retiring to Mexico, Costa Rica and Beyond that was published in 1996.Reporting from Central and South America for a whole host of publications was just the beginning!Before becoming AOL's Montclair Patch editor in June 2010, Shelley was a London-based foreign correspondent for six years, covering everything from Prince William's love life to European politics. Previously she covered New York City before and after 9/11, the Caribbean and Latin America, and Atlanta -- all for the Cox Newspaper chain.Shelley left London and moved to Montclair, New Jersey in 2009 with her husband and three energetic children.After years of rejection letters, her much-acclaimed book, The Fossil Hunter, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in October 2009.That led her to learn more about -- and write an awful lot about -- science and religion.And it also led to the writing of Shelley's latest book Madame Curie and her Daughters: The Private Lives of Science's First Family to be published in August 2012 by Palgrave Macmillan.