The name "Curie" is most often associated with Marie Curie, and with good reason. However, her husband Pierre had made a name for himself years before Marie began her epic work, and he assisted in the research that won the couple two Nobel Prizes.

Thinking his introverted son to be a slow learner, Curie's father chose to educate him at home. He proved to be an exceptional student once directed--so much so that he earned his bachelor's degree from the Sorbonne at the age of sixteen. He worked as a laboratory assistant there during his post-graduate studies, which gave him an opportunity to work with his older brother, Jacques. During this time, the two brothers did intense research in crystallography. In 1880, they discovered that certain crystals, such as quartz, would produce a small electric current when pressure was applied to them. They called this effect piezoelectricity (from a...