- In full:
- Ève Denise Curie Labouisse
- Died:
- Oct. 22, 2007, New York, N.Y., U.S. (aged 102)
- Notable Family Members:
- father Pierre Curie
- mother Marie Curie
- sister Irène Joliot-Curie
Ève Curie
-
Who was Ève Curie?
Ève Curie (1904–2007) was a French and American concert pianist, journalist, and diplomat, and the daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie. Although she earned degrees in science and philosophy, her talents lay in music and writing.
Curie worked as a war correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, reporting from North Africa, the Middle East, the Soviet Union, India, Burma, and China. These experiences were recounted in Journey Among Warriors (1943).
After World War II, Ève copublished a daily newspaper, Paris-Presse, and later became a special advisor to NATO's secretary general. She is also known for writing her mother's biography, Madame Curie (1937).
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What were some of Ève Curie's main talents and professions?
Ève Curie, born in Paris in 1904, was a French and American concert pianist, journalist, and diplomat, and the daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie. Though she earned degrees in science and philosophy, her talents lay in music and writing.
Curie performed classical piano across France and Belgium, and wrote musical reviews. After her mother's death, Ève wrote Madame Curie, an international bestseller that was made into a film. During World War II, she became a war correspondent, reporting from North Africa, the Middle East, the Soviet Union, India, Burma, and China. Later, Ève became a special advisor to NATO.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How was Ève Curie related to the famous scientist Marie Curie?
Ève Curie (1904–2007) was the daughter of Pierre Curie and Marie Curie. Marie Curie, a Polish-born French physicist, is renowned for her groundbreaking work on radioactivity and is the only woman to win the Nobel Prize in two different fields.
Ève is best known for writing her mother's biography, Madame Curie, in 1937. Though she earned degrees in science and philosophy, Ève's talents leaned more towards music and writing. Her biography of Marie inspired many young women to pursue science, but it received criticism for omitting the sexism Marie faced and her affair with a married man.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What is Ève Curie best known for in her career as a writer?
Ève Curie, a French and American pianist, journalist, and diplomat, is best known as a writer for her biography of her mother, Madame Curie (1937). After her mother's death in 1934, Ève wrote the biography, which became an international bestseller and was adapted into a Hollywood film in 1943. While the biography inspired many girls to pursue science, it faced criticism for omitting the sex discrimination Marie Curie battled and Marie's affair, which newspapers widely reported.
During World War II, Ève worked as a war correspondent for the International Herald Tribune, reporting from North Africa, the Middle East, the Soviet Union, India, Burma, and China. She chronicled these experiences in Journey Among Warriors (1943).
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did Ève Curie contribute to World War II?
During World War II, Ève Curie left Paris for England and joined the Free French forces in 1940. In early 1941, she went to the United States to lecture on the war. Soon after, the International Herald Tribune hired her as a war correspondent. From this post, she traveled and reported from North Africa, the Middle East, the Soviet Union, India, Burma, and China. She later recounted her experiences in Journey Among Warriors (1943). After the liberation of Paris, Curie co-published a daily newspaper, Paris-Presse (1945–49).
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
In what ways did Ève Curie's life and achievements differ from those of her mother and sister?
Ève Curie, born in 1904, differed significantly from her mother, Marie Curie, and sister, Irène Joliot-Curie. While Marie and Irène excelled in science and won Nobel Prizes for their work in radioactivity and chemistry, respectively, Ève's talents lay in music and writing.
Ève was a concert pianist, journalist, and diplomat. She wrote a biography of her mother, Madame Curie, which became an international bestseller. During World War II, Ève became a war correspondent and traveled to various regions, recounting her experiences in Journey Among Warriors. After the war, she was involved with the Paris-Presse newspaper and later became a special advisor to NATO. She also worked with UNICEF in Greece.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Ève Curie (born Dec. 6, 1904, Paris, France—died Oct. 22, 2007, New York, N.Y., U.S.) was a French and American concert pianist, journalist, and diplomat, a daughter of Pierre Curie and Marie Curie. She is best known for writing a biography of her mother, Madame Curie (1937).
Early life
Ève Curie was born a year after her parents received (together with Henri Becquerel) a Nobel Prize for Physics for their research concerning radioactivity. After Pierre’s death in 1906 from a collision with a horse-drawn wagon, Marie Curie focused her efforts on completing the research she and Pierre had undertaken together. She went on to win the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Ève’s older sister Irène Joliot-Curie and brother-in-law Frédéric Joliot-Curie also won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry, in 1935 for their discovery of new radioactive isotopes. Although Ève Curie earned bachelor’s degrees in science and philosophy from the Collège Sévigné in 1925, her real aptitude was music and writing, which her mother encouraged. Ève Curie’s frequent classical piano recitals across France and Belgium were interspersed with musical reviews written for various publications. In the 1920s and ’30s she was widely noted for her beauty; during a 1921 tour of the United States with her mother, the American press called Ève Curie “the girl with radium eyes.”
Ève Curie lived with (and traveled on her concert engagements with) her mother, whose health deteriorated as she slowly died of leukemia, thought to have been caused by Marie’s long-term exposure to radioactive elements. (In 1956 Irène Joliot-Curie also died of leukemia. Years later Ève Curie wrote of her guilt at having avoided the same fate.) After Marie’s death in 1934, Ève wrote a biography of her mother that became an instant international best seller and was made into a Hollywood film (1943) starring British-American actress Greer Garson as Marie and Canadian-born American actor Walter Pidgeon as Pierre. Although the biography—and later the film adaptation—inspired many girls to pursue a career in science, it was criticized for leaving out both the sex discrimination that Marie had to battle throughout her career and any mention of Marie’s scandalous affair with a married man, which had been widely reported in newspapers.
A chapter from Madame Curie, “The Discovery of Radium,” is included in Encyclopædia Britannica’s Gateway to the Great Books (1963).
International journalist and diplomat
Following the outbreak of World War II, Ève Curie left Paris for England on June 11, 1940. She immediately joined the Free French and went to the United States early in 1941 to lecture on the war. She was soon hired by the International Herald Tribune as a war correspondent, and she went on to travel to and report from North Africa, the Middle East, the Soviet Union, India, Burma [Myanmar], and China. She recounted these adventures in Journey Among Warriors (1943). After the liberation of Paris, Ève Curie copublished a daily newspaper, the Paris-Presse (1945–49), and in 1952 she was appointed as a special adviser to the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
In 1954 she married Henry Labouisse, who served as director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East from 1954 to 1958, the year that Ève Curie became a U.S. citizen. From 1962 to 1965 he was the U.S. ambassador to Greece and she was the director of UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) in Greece. (Her husband was the executive director of UNICEF from 1965 to 1979.) After her husband’s death in 1987, Ève Curie divided her time between Greece, Paris, and New York City, where she made her last public appearances at dinners honouring her on her 100th birthday.