In November 1911 , Marie Skłodowska - Curie was calendar week away from being present the Nobel Prize in Chemistry . She receive her first Nobel in 1903 for Physics , and the new award mean that she was the first person ever to receive two Prizes . She remains the only person to be recognise in two different sciences . Though her extraordinary work as a scientist should have been all anyone care about , it seemed that many were preoccupied with her personal biography .

Pierre Curie fail in 1906 , leaving Marie as a widow woman . A few years later , she becameromantically involvedwith physicist Paul Langevin , who had been a doctorial pupil of Pierre ’s . Though Langevin was assort from his wife , they were still technically married . The relationship caused worry in the Langevin house , but that was nothing compared towhat was aboutto spill over into the public oculus .

Curie , Langevin , and about 20 other scientist were take in to an elect , invitation - only conference in Brussels in the dusk of 1911 . During this meter , love letters between Curie and Langevin had been given to members of the media by Langevin ’s married woman , who impersonate Curie as an evil homewrecker .

If the riffraff bear on to occupy itself with you , then simply do n’t read that hogwash , but rather leave it to the reptilian for whom it has been construct .

When Curie returned home to France after the conference , she was greet by a mob that surrounded her house and terrified Curie ’s daughters , who were only 7 and 14 years sure-enough at the sentence . Curie and her daughters temporarily run in with a friend until the scandal go down .

Albert Einstein — who had just recently been introduced to Curie at the Brussels group discussion — was disgusted by the media ’s actions , prompting him to write this letter of the alphabet to his newfangled friend :

" Highly honored Mrs. Curie ,

Do not express joy at me for write you without having anything sensible to say . But I am so enraged by the base manner in which the populace is presently dare to concern itself with you that I dead must give blowhole to this feeling . However , I am confident that you consistently despise this rabble , whether it obsequiously lavishes esteem on you or whether it attempts to satiate its lust for luridness !

I am impelled to tell you how much I have amount to look up to your intellect , your drive , and your honesty , and that I consider myself golden to have made your personal acquaintance in Brussels . Anyone who does not number among these reptiles is for sure happy , now as before , that we have such personages among us as you , and Langevin too , real people with whom one feels favour to be in contact . If the rout continues to invade itself with you , then plainly do n’t read that hogwash , but rather exit it to the reptile for whom it has been fabricated .

With most amicable gaze to you , Langevin , and Perrin , yours very rightfully ,   A. Einstein

P.S. I have determined the statistical constabulary of motion of the diatomic molecule in Planck ’s actinotherapy field by means of a funny witticism , of course under the constraint that the anatomical structure ’s motion follows the laws of stock auto-mechanic . My hope that this law is valid in reality is very pocket-sized , though . "

– Albert Einstein , November 23 , 1911 .

( Sidenote : “ Perrin ” refers to Jean Perrin , a family Quaker of the Curies and Langevins , whodefended Curiein the aftermath )

This missive to Curie was uncovered by astrobiologistDavid Grinspoon , who was perusing the thousands of Einstein ’s text file of late made usable online by thePrinceton University Press .

An original version of this article was bring out on IFLScience in December 2017 .