Albert Einstein Tells Marie Curie To Ignore the Haters in 1911 Letter

Sage advice from a genius.

Back in 1911, Albert Einstein sent a heartwarming letter of encouragement to his peer Noble Laureate Marie Curie. At the time, she was facing a lot of criticism, though interestingly enough a lot of the hate had nothing to do with her research and work. Nope.

In January of 1911, Curie was denied a seat for a physicist in the French Academy of Sciences, which many assume had to do with the fact that she was a woman and an atheist (though there were rumors that she was Jewish) but probably mainly because news had just surfaced that she, a widow, was carrying on a romantic relationship with physicist Paul Langevin, who was married though estranged from his wife. The scandal broke while she was away, and upon her return she found an angry mob in front of her house—Curie and her daughters were driven from her home, forced to stay with friends. Sounds kind of familiar huh?

Keeping that in mind, check out Einstein’s (translated) letter to Curie.

Hogwash indeed. Oh, and by the way, in midst of all this ridiculous scandal, Curie was honored with her second Nobel Prize later in 1911. Suck on that, early 20th century haters.