Author: Stew Ross

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The Tragic Death of Madame Curie

Julius Mendes Price [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons from Wikimedia Commons
Julius Mendes Price [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons from Wikimedia Commons
If you studied science and in particular, radiology, then you know the story of Marie Curie (1867–1934) and her husband, Pierre (1859–1906). Madame Curie was the first woman to ever win a Nobel Prize and the only woman to win two Nobel prizes in separate categories: physics (1903) and chemistry (1911). At this moment, she is the only woman buried in the Pantheon based on her own merits (several other women have recently been voted in but their remains have not been transferred).

Family Affair

The Curie family was quite well known for their work in radiology and radium. Their daughter, Irene (1897–1956), would go on to win the 1935 Nobel Prize in chemistry. The other children were esteemed scientists in their own ways.

Pierre was an instructor at the School of Physics and Chemistry and would go on to hold the physics chair at the University of Paris created specifically for him. Despite this position, the Curies had to use a make shift laboratory located in a converted shed.

Jointly, the Curies are responsible for discovering two elements: polonium (named for her homeland of Poland) and radium. In time, they would create the word radioactivity. One of their 32 scientific papers dealt with radium and how when exposed to it, diseased and tumor-forming cells would die off quicker than healthy cells. Read More The Tragic Death of Madame Curie

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Build It and They May Not Come

Field of Dreams. Photo (2006). Madmaxmarchhare of English Wikipedia. Wikimedia Commons.
Field of Dreams. Photo (2006). Madmaxmarchhare of English Wikipedia. Wikimedia Commons.

I decided to become my own publisher (Yooper Publications) when I realized I was going to write an entire series of walking tour books based on European cities and their historical events and historical periods of time.

I’ve learned a lot

I entered the fifth and final phase of the publishing spectrum the moment we published (and picked up) the first book, Where Did They Put the Guillotine? —A Walking Tour of Revolutionary Paris (1789–1794)–Volume One. This final component is the marketing and public relations portion of my journey. In other words, getting people to become aware my books exist. You remember the movie where they build the baseball field in the middle of the Iowa cornfield? It was the “build it and they will come” type of mentality. Well, not true in the case of trying to sell one’s book in an industry where 2.2 million books come on the market each year (walk through Books A Million sometime and take a look at the competition—that should sober up every aspiring author). Read More Build It and They May Not Come