Radioactive!: How Irène Curie and Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed the World

Conkling's biography delves into the separate but ever-so-slightly-overlapping lives of Irène Curie, daughter of Marie and Nobel Prize–winning French physicist who co-discovered artificial radioactivity; and Austrian physicist Lise Meitner, who co-discovered nuclear fission. The majority of the book details the pioneering women's accomplishments and their lasting impact on the commercial, military, and scientific realms. Informative sidebars and captioned photographs are included throughout. Timeline, websites. Bib., glos., ind.

While there have been plenty of biographies of Marie Curie for teens, little has been published for this audience about her daughter, Irene. Conkling's biography takes an unusual approach, delving into the separate but ever-so-slightly-overlapping lives of Irene Curie, the Nobel Prize-winning French physicist who co-discovered artificial radioactivity, and Austrian physicist Lise Meitner, who co-discovered nuclear fission. Although the two women hardly came in contact with each other -- and when they did they frequently disagreed -- they had much in common: both were pioneers in their fields, yet remained underappreciated in the larger cultural narrative of scientific endeavors. Both faced immense prejudice within the scientific community, and Meitner doubly so for her Jewish heritage while living in Nazi Germany. Both "saw science as a tool to improve society and enhance the lives of the next generation"; they were horrified that their discoveries were used to create atomic weapons during World War II. Conkling details the women's personal and professional lives from their childhoods to their deaths at ages fifty-eight and eighty-nine, respectively, spending the majority of the book detailing their accomplishments and their lasting impact on the commercial, military, and scientific realms. Informative sidebars provide useful overviews of related science, but their placement is sometimes disruptive; captioned photographs are included throughout, and back matter includes a timeline, a glossary, a "who's who," chapter notes, and a bibliography. kazia berkley-cramer