Under the title “Two Geniuses in Dialogue”, the Albert Einstein Discovery Center Ulm Association presents the first complete publication of the correspondence between Marie Curie and Albert Einstein
For decades, the correspondence between Marie Curie (née Maria Skłodowska) and Albert Einstein lay scattered across archives in several countries and had never been published. Thanks to in-depth research by Dr. Ewa Łabno-Falęcka, the letters exchanged by the two Nobel laureates between 1911 and 1932 have now been brought together in a richly detailed volume – and are coming to Ulm. On Monday, 12 October 2026, the Albert Einstein Discovery Center Ulm Association invites the public to a book presentation at the Stadthaus Ulm at 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.).
The editor will present the publication together with Prof. Hanoch Gutfreund, former President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Academic Head of its Albert Einstein Archives, and Dr. Felix Streiter, Managing Director of the Carl Zeiss Foundation. Ulm’s Mayor Martin Ansbacher will give a welcome address. Admission is free; prior registration at veranstaltungen@einstein.center is requested. The volume is available only in a small print run. On the evening of the event, copies can be purchased on site for 50 euros and signed on request.
For Ewa Łabno-Falęcka, the search for the long-forgotten letters spanned the globe. She tracked them down in various archives and research institutions, including in Jerusalem, Paris, Zurich, Princeton and Düsseldorf. Some of the documents even had to be decontaminated before they could be examined, because Marie Curie worked with radium for decades. Many of her papers and belongings remain measurably radioactive to this day.
In total, Ewa Łabno-Falęcka brought together 25 letters and one postcard, which were published on the initiative of her Foundation for the Development of Education for Industry (Fundacja Rozwoju Edukacji dla Przemysłu) in cooperation with the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Museum in Warsaw. On each page, the volume places a facsimile of the original document alongside its translation. Scholarly commentary is provided by Prof. Hanoch Gutfreund, who oversees Einstein’s estate at the Albert Einstein Archives, and by Prof. Jan Piskurewicz (Polish Academy of Sciences) and Prof. Tomasz Pospieszny (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań), both of whom have been researching Curie for many years. Following editions in Polish, English, French and Japanese, the correspondence is now available in German – and will be presented in Einstein’s birthplace, Ulm.
“For most people, Einstein is a formula and a hairstyle,” says Nancy Hecker-Denschlag, president of the Albert Einstein Discovery Center Ulm Association “In these letters, he is a very approachable human being, writing to a colleague he admires. This is also a side of Einstein we want to bring to life in Ulm.”
A Friendship That Endured
Twelve years Einstein’s senior, the physicist Marie Curie was his confidante and mentor. The correspondence offers a fascinating insight into the friendship between two outstanding figures of 20th-century science. It documents their mutual respect, their shared commitment to the freedom of research, and their dedication to peace and humanist values. Both, for example, were members of the League of Nations’ International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, the forerunner of UNESCO.
“A true icon of science, whose achievements transcend the boundaries of time, nations and languages – and of whom her admirer Albert Einstein once said that she was the only person he knew whom fame had not corrupted,” says Dr. Ewa Łabno-Falęcka, editor and President of the Foundation for the Development of Education for Industry, about Marie Curie.
Ewa Łabno-Falęcka holds a doctorate in German studies, studied in Tübingen and today teaches at the Warsaw University of Technology. The publication was made possible with the kind support of the Carl Zeiss Foundation, POLONIKA – the National Institute of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad, the City of Warsaw and the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation. The event is being held in cooperation with the Hugendubel bookstore in Ulm.
Program
- Opening of the evening by Dr. Nancy Hecker-Denschlag
- Welcome address by Mayor Martin Ansbacher
- Book presentation “Marie Skłodowska-Curie und Albert Einstein BRIEFE / 1911–1932” (Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Albert Einstein: Letters / 1911–1932) with Dr. Ewa Łabno-Falęcka (editor), Prof. em. Hanoch Gutfreund (former President of the Hebrew University and Academic Director of the Einstein Archives in Jerusalem) and Dr. Felix Streiter (Managing Director of the Carl Zeiss Foundation)
- Closing get-together in the foyer
At a Glance
Monday, October 12, 2026, 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.)
Stadthaus Ulm, Münsterplatz 50, 89073 Ulm, Germany
Free admission, registration requested at veranstaltungen@einstein.center
The volume will be available for purchase on site on the evening of the event for 50 euros, signed on request
