News Article:Meet Marie Curie -Reply

[Charles Willis <CAW@nrc.gov>]

I too had a high opinion of the Marie Curie article.  Of course, it is always possible
to quibble about such articles.  My quibble is with the attribution of Mme. Curie's
death to radiation-induced leukemia.  By the time of her death, Mme. Curie was a
celebrity of the first rank and had access to first-rate medical attention.  Her
physicians attributed her death to pernicious anemia (which is a failure of the
intestines to adsorb sufficient vitamine B-12) and the symptoms described by
Mme. Curie's daughter (Eve) are consistant with that diagnosis.  I know of no
justification for the "leukemia" story except that pernicious anemia is not known to
be radiation-induced and there seems to be a desire to add this little twist to the
story.  The story of Mme. Curie's life needs no such embilisment.

Charlie Willis
caw@nrc.gov