2/2/2024 0 Comments Radium marie curieto radiate, to illumine and serve those about them. I believe it is the sum of many inspirations, borne in on great souls, which enables them to warm, to scintillate. I have been very sure that that which I may call the radio-active soul, or spirit, or intellect-call it what you choose-must first gather to itself, from its surroundings, the power that it afterwards radiates in beneficence to those near it. I have liked to believe in an analogy between the spiritual and the physical world. The question suggested an answer which is doubtless hopelessly unscientific. If, indeed, these simpler and commoner relations of life could not keep you from great attainments in the realms of science and intellect, it is also true that the zeal, ambition, and unswerving purpose of a lofty career could not bar you from splendidly doing all the plain but worthy tasks which fall to every woman's lot.Ī number of years ago a reader of one of your earlier works on radio-active substances noted the observation that there was much divergence of opinion as to whether the energy of radio-active substances is created within those substances themselves, or is gathered to them from outside sources, and then diffused from them. We lay at your feet the testimony of that love which all the generations of men have been wont to bestow upon the noble woman, the unselfish wife, the devoted mother. We bring to you the meed of honor which is due to preeminence in science, scholarship, research, and humanitarianism. We know something of the fervid purpose and deep devotion which inspired you. We are not without understanding of the trials and sacrifices which have been the price of your achievement. It has been your fortune, Madame Curie, to accomplish an immortal work for humanity. We exalt anew our pride that we have stood with them in the struggle for civilization, and have touched elbows with them in the march of progress. In doing honor to you we testify anew our pride in-the ancient friendships which have bound us to both the country of your adoption and that of your nativity. We greet you as an exemplar of liberty's victories in the generation wherein liberty has won her crown of glory. We greet you as foremost among scientists in the age of science, as leader among women in the generation which sees woman come tardily into her own. In you we see the representative of Poland restored and reinstated to its rightful place, of France valiantly maintained in the high estate which has ever been its right.Īs a nation whose womanhood has been exalted to fullest participation in citizenship, we are proud to honor in you a woman whose work has earned universal acclaim and attested woman's equality in every intellectual and spiritual activity. We greet you as a native-born daughter of Poland newest, as it is also among the oldest, of the great nations, and always bound by ties of closest sympathy to our own Republic. We welcome you as an adopted daughter of France, our earliest supporter among the great nations. On behalf of the American Nation I greet and welcome you to our country, in which you will everywhere find the most cordial possible reception. It is with an especial satisfaction that I perform the pleasant duty which has been assigned to me today.
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