Appreciation

While studying Marie Curie’s career and the opportunities she made available to other women, I was repeatedly struck by the helpful alliances she formed with the men in her life, from her father, who believed in her right to an advanced education, and her brother, with whom she maintained a lifelong correspondence, to the “little brother-in-law” who watched over her in Paris, and of course Pierre—also Pierre’s father, who enabled her to be a working mother, and the colleagues who befriended her in the lab, on the university faculty, at conferences, and at council meetings. They reminded me of all the good men to whom I am gratefully indebted, beginning with my father and brothers, Sam, Mike, and Steve Sobel; my son, Isaac Klein; my son-in-law, Justin Kobrin; and my many mentors, especially Will Andrewes, John Bethel, Michael Carlisle, Joseph Cherry, Frank Drake, George Gibson, Owen Gingerich, Ralph Kazarian, Art Klein, Jacob Luria, David May, Kit Reed, Carl Sagan, Bill Stockton, Dick Teresi, and Alfonso Triggiani.

For their various and generous aid as facilitators, advisors, or technical experts on this project, I heartily thank Céline Fellag Ariouet, William B. Ashworth Jr., Elisabeth Bouchaud, Marcin Dolecki, Conor Gruber, Sheryl Heller, Roald Hoffman, Renaud Huynh, Edward Landa, Aurélie Lemoine, Annette Lykknes, Doug Offenhartz, Natalie Pigeard-Micault, Susan Quinn, Kristina Ramsland, Marelene and Geoffrey Rayner-Canham, Jessica Reed, Robert Schumacher, Mary Schwager, Brigitte Van Tiggelen, and Jaroslaw Wlodarczyk.