The first book to chronicle both generations of the famous French scientific family For two generations, the Curie family conducted key early research on radiation, discovering radium and laying the groundwork for the development of the A-bomb. Their work earned them a slew of Nobel Prizes: for Physics in 1903 (Pierre and Marie), Chemistry in 1911 (Marie), and Chemistry in 1935 (daughter Irene and her husband, Frederic Joliot-Curie). Another daughter, the glamorous writer Eve Curie, became her mother's biographer and a fearless war correspondent. This revealing biography relates the personal stories and controversies behind the family's success, including the sex scandal that devastated Marie, the run-ins Marie and Irene had with the male scientific establishment, and Frederic's Resistance exploits and involvement with the Communist Party.

In this unique book, celebrated biographer Denis Brian draws on some of the greatest scientific minds of the twentieth century, in pursuit of their distinct views on life, knowledge, and the cosmos. A provocative and revealing interviewer, Brian weaves together the insights and personal stories of a stellar cast of Nobel Prize winners and other luminaries, including Linus Pauling's ill-fated support of Vitamin C as a cure for cancer, Ashley Montagu's explanation of why the sex drive is not innate, and various personal recollections of the making of the atomic bomb, Heisenberg's role in Nazi Germany, and the spy case of Klaus Fuchs.

This book reveals how and why, almost without exception, American presidents sought to protect Jews at home and abroad from their often deadly enemies. It explains why American presidents have admired and befriended Jews, appointed them to powerful positions, and eventually helped them achieve their greatest dream: a return to the country of their forebears and the establishment of a Jewish state in which they were masters of their destiny. Based on once-secret documents and little-known diaries, The Elected and the Chosen discloses, for the first time, the close ties that have bound American presidents and the Jews from the dawn of American history.