It's Always Good To Marry Your Best

I Have Frequently Been Questioned, Especially By Women, Of How I Could Reconcile Family Life With A Scientific Career. Well, It Has Not Been Easy.

I Am Among Those Who Think That Science Has Great Beauty. A Scientist In His Laboratory Is Not Only A Technician: He Is Also A Child Placed Before Natural Phenomena Which Impress Him Like A Fairy Tale. We Should Not Allow It To Be Believed That All Scientific Progress Can Be Reduced To Mechanisms, Machines, Gearings, Even Though Such Machinery Has Its Own Beauty.

We Must Not Forget That When Radium Was Discovered No One Knew That It Would Prove Useful In Hospitals. The Work Was One Of Pure Science. And This Is A Proof That Scientific Work Must Not Be Considered From The Point Of View Of The Direct Usefulness Of It. It Must Be Done For Itself, For The Beauty Of Science, And Then There Is Always The Chance That A Scientific Discovery May Become Like The Radium A Benefit For Humanity.

When One Studies Strongly Radioactive Substances Special Precautions Must Be Taken. Dust, The Air Of The Room, And One's Clothes, All Become Radioactive.

It Is My Earnest Desire That Some Of You Should Carry On This Scientific Work And Keep For Your Ambition The Determination To Make A Permanent Contribution To Science.