Written with the co-operation of the Marie Curie estate and drawing on thousands of previously unpublished letters, this biography of the Nobel Prize-winning scientist not only describes her research with her husband Pierre which led to the discovery of Radium, but also explores her early life in Russian-dominated Poland, her affair with married colleague Paul Langevin, and the deep reserves of passion which she poured out in letters to Pierre, most poignantly after his premature death.