Marie Curie: A Life of Discovery by Alice Milani
This graphic novel tells the story of Marie Curie, a Polish scientist who discovered radiation with her French husband Pierre. After a brief look at her life as a housekeeper in Poland the story moves to Paris where she studied physics and mathematics. She also met her husband Pierre. Her "life of discovery" is both personal (she had a tendency to be reclusive, so being married and having children was a discovery for her) and scientific (she discovered radium and polonium). She was the only person to win Nobel Prizes in different sciences and the first woman to win any Nobel Prize. She ran into controversy after the death of her husband when she had an affair with a married man. The book bends over backwards to paint that incident in a positive light.
The art is fantastic. The entire book is in watercolor style that brings out the Frenchness of her life. The look is very distinctive and good at communicating a variety of emotions without having to verbalize them. The book reads very quickly and recommends other books at the end for more detail. The book puts far too much emphasis on the affair, as if getting past that was as big an accomplishment as her scientific discoveries.
Mildly recommended.
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