REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
IN PRESENTING TO
MADAM CURIE
A GIFT OF RADIUM FROM THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE
——
3 P. M., MAY 20, 1921
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1921
REMARKS
Madame Curie:
It is with an especial satisfaction that I perform the pleasant dutywhich has been assigned to me today. On behalf of the American Nation Igreet and welcome you to our country, in which you will everywhere findthe most cordial possible reception. We welcome you as an adopteddaughter of France, our earliest supporter among the great nations. Wegreet you as a native-born daughter of Poland; newest, as it is alsoamong the oldest, of the great nations, and always bound by ties ofclosest sympathy to our own Republic. In you we see the representativeof Poland restored and reinstated to its rightful place, of Francevaliantly maintained in the high estate which has ever been its right.
As a nation whose womanhood has been exalted to fullest participation incitizenship, we are proud to honor in you a woman whose work has earneduniversal acclaim and attested woman’s equality in every intellectualand spiritual activity.
We greet you as foremost among scientists in the age of science, asleader among women in the generation which sees woman come tardily intoher own. We greet you as an exemplar of liberty’s victories in thegeneration wherein liberty has won her crown of glory.
In doing honor to you we testify anew our pride in the ancientfriendships which have bound us to both the country of your adoption andthat of your nativity. We exalt anew our pride that we have stood withthem in the struggle for civilization, and have touched elbows with themin the march of progress.
It has been your fortune, Madame Curie, to accomplish an immortal workfor humanity. We are not without understanding of the trials andsacrifices which have been the price of your achievement. We knowsomething of the fervid purpose and deep devotion which inspired you. Webring to you the meed of honor which is due to preeminence in science,scholarship, research, and humanitarianism. But with it all we bringsomething more. We lay at your feet the testimony of that love which allthe generations of men have been wont to bestow upon the noble woman,the unselfish wife, the devoted mother. If, indeed, these simpler andcommoner relations of life could not keep you from great attainments inthe realms of science and intellect, it is also true that the zeal,ambition, and unswerving purpose of a lofty career could not bar youfrom splendidly doing all the plain but worthy tasks which fall to everywoman’s lot.
A number of years ago a reader of one of your earlier works onradio-active substances noted the observation that there was muchdivergence of opinion as to whether the energy of radio-activesubstances is created within those substances themselves, or is{4}gathered to them from outside sources, and then diffused from them. Thequestion suggested an answer which is doubtless hopelessly unscientific.I have liked to believe in an analogy between the spiritual and thephysical world. I ha