CURIE, Marie (1867-1934). "Rayons émis par les composés de l'uranium et du thorium." In: Comptes rendus de hebdomodaires des séances de l'académie des sciences, vol. 126 (January-June 1898), pp. 1101-1103. Paris: Gauthier-Villars et fils, 1898. Thick 4o (283 x 228 mm). Disbound with recent blanks tipped to first and last leaves, remnants of the original spine; paper board protective folding case. FIRST EDITION OF MARIE CURIE'S FIRST CONTRIBUTION TO COMPTES RENDUS, in which she reports that "Two uranium ores ... are much more active than uranium itself. This fact ... leads one to believe that these ores may contain an element much more active than uranium" (DSB). Further research and attempts to isolate the then-unknown "radioactive" (a term coined by Curie) substances led the Curie's to the discovery of polonium and radium, which they discuss in their second (see next item in lot) and third notes in Comptes rendus. -- CURIE, Pierre (1859-1906) and Marie CURIE. "Sur une substance nouvelle radio-active, contenue dans la pechblende (1)" pp.175-178. In: Comptes rendus hebdomadaires de siances de l'Académie des Sciences. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 18 July 1898. 4o (280 x 225 mm). Original printed wrappers, unopened (covers detached). FIRST EDITION, journal issue, of the Curie's important discovery of polonium. In 1898 in their shed at the École Municipale de Physique et Chimie Industrielle, the Curies processed huge quantities of pitchblende (uranium ore). After repeated separations of the various substances in the pitchblende, they were able to detect within the trace active amounts of the ore a new element, polonium, named after Marie Curie's native land. In December of the same year, the Curie's announced the discovery of a second radioactive element, radium. Garrison-Morton 2003. (2)