What happens
Paris in the 1890s: Marie Sklodowska, a young Polish student at the Sorbonne, joins the laboratory of Dr. Pierre Curie, a physicist known for his reserved manner. Their work begins with a rock called pitch blend, which exposes a photographic plate in total darkness, puzzling Dr. Becquerel and the students. Marie grows restless with the idea of leaving science and returning to Poland. Pierre proposes marriage and a shared scientific life, and she agrees to stay in Paris. The episode then follows the couple's married life and their careful measurements of the pitch blend, which suggest a hidden element. The story is told in two acts from the Lux Radio Theatre series, first broadcast on September 16, 1946, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon.
Paris, 1890s, including the Sorbonne University and Dr. Curie's laboratory, as well as a country house, a river steamer and the family home.
Characters: Marie Sklodowska, Pierre Curie, Professor Perot, David, Dr. Becquerel, Madame Curie's mother, Dr. Curie's father, Professor Rosie
Listen for: The pitch blend photographic plate experiment, Marie's measurements showing four missing units of energy, and Pierre's proposal that they work together.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.