November 7 “A needle in the right direction”

An interesting note in my library is that for a lot of things, while I may not have a complete book on a specific topic, I may have entries or comments in various books. This makes for some interesting research. Today is such a day. Let’s begin.

November 7th 1867, Manya Sklodowska (Marie Curie) was born. I first looked her up in “A Sketch of Medicine and Pharmacy” by Samuel Evens Massengill, published 1943.

In the chapter of ‘Women and Medicine” the author tells of how “Marie Sklodowska left Poland and studied at the Sorbonne University in France, and became one of the world’s greatest scientists. There she met and married Pierre Curie. Radium is the Curie’s gift to humanity.”

Next, I turned to “Chambers Biographical Dictionary” edited by Magnus Magnusson, my edition 1996. Under Curie, I found that after graduating from Sorbonne, and marrying Pierre Curry, they worked on radioactivity (a term she invented), and isolated Radium and Polonium. They both were awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 1903. After her husband died, she took over the director of research job, and received another Nobel prize for Chemistry in 1911.

I thirdly turned to “The Phrase Finder” by J.O. Rodale, published 1953. This book is actually three books in one. First, Name-Word Finder; then Metaphor Finder; and Sophisticated Synonyms.

When I looked up MME. Marie Curie, it had a nice quick biography and then a phrase about her:

“Madame Marie Curie was the Polish physicist and chemist who discovered radio-active substances, an achievement that advanced the world immeasurably in the treatment of theretofore irremediable ailments. She was remarkable not only for her skill, endurance and perseverance in the face of repeated disappointments, but for her utter simplicity, modesty, and dignity in the face of the world-fame and acclamation showered upon her success. The modesty of a Madame Curie.“

November 7th is Inuit Day-celebrating the language and culture of the Inuit tribes of Arctic Eskimos. I have several interesting books. The first is in my bibliography section, “The Bibliography of the Eskimo Language” by James Constantine Pilling, published in 1887. This book lists all of the research done by explorers, missionaries, and scientists for eskimos, and the various other tribes like Aluits and Kodiaks. He also researched The British Library and the Library of Congress. This was printed for the Smithsonian.

I also have a very interesting book “Ancient Ink: The Archaeology of Tattooing” by Lars Krutak & Aaron Deter-Wolf, 2020.

I bought this book because I attended a seminar by Lars Krutak at our local museum. My grandaughter and I enjoyed it. He is one of the most celebrated experts on tattoos and old cultures around the world.

He began his research on tattoos by interviewing and taking picture of Elders from Eskimo and Inuit tribes in Alaska and Canada. In this book, and in his lecture, he has many photos and stories of how tattoos can be for healing, for heroics like first whale kill, and also so family can recognise them in the afterlife. The Inuit also did ‘skin stitching’, where they pulled an ink filled thread and needle through the skin for designs. The ink stayed under the skin.

This book helped understand tattoos better, along with the life of Inuit and Ekimos-even old other cultures and tribes around the world. It was amazing to hear how similar tattoos may be from different cultures. I will look for more books by this author, and also if he is ever back for another lecture.

Hope you thought this was ink-spirational.

Does a radioactive cat have 18 half-lives?

What was Madame Curie’s favorite food? Fission Chips.