In 1934, Irene Curie, working with her husband and fellow physicist, Frederic Joliot, made a discovery that forever altered the world: artificial radioactivity. Four years later, Curie's breakthrough led physicist Lise Meitner to the scientific epiphany that unlocked the secret of nuclear fission. Meitner's unique insight was critical to the revolution in science that led to nuclear energy and the race to build the atomic bomb.

"The most beautiful experiment in the world" -- Little queen and the other baby -- On the battlefields -- Dr. and Mrs. -- Right on time -- Lost and found -- A lab of her own -- Radium: treatment or toxin? -- Heavy metals -- Fleeing Hitler's Germany -- Eureka! the discovery of fission -- Chain reaction: research on fission goes global -- War -- Overlooked -- Afterward: physicists, pacifists, realists.