Marie Curie's notebooks, of the Polish scientist who settled in France, are stored in the vaults of the National Library of France in Paris, inside safes protected by several layers of lead. These documents represent the early days of human understanding of radioactivity and are considered some of the most important records in the History of Science.
The National Library of France also houses other invaluable materials, such as the Gutenberg Bible, works by renowned authors such as Stendhal and Montaigne, and musical scores by Beethoven and Chopin. All these items are carefully preserved under controlled light and temperature conditions.
However, Marie Curie's notebooks require even more rigorous security measures than the other treasures of the library. The article indicates that there are specific security protocols for researchers who wish to consult these documents, although the information about these protocols is partially incomplete in the text.
The need to keep these notebooks under lock and key, away from public view, is due to the fact that Curie's notes contain traces of radioactivity, given that the scientist worked directly with radioactive materials without the safety precautions that are mandatory today.
