Here’s a beautiful notebook that I’d rather not see up close:

 

“Marie Curie made some of the most significant contributions to science in the 20th century. And as most people already know, she did so at a great cost to her own health. What most people probably don’t know, however, is that the radiation levels she was exposed to were so powerful that her notebooks must now be kept in lead-lined boxes.

It’s true. And it’s not just Curie’s manuscripts that are too dangerous to touch, either. If you visit the Pierre and Marie Curie collection at the Bibliotheque Nationale in France, many of her personal possessions—from her furniture to her cookbooks—require protective clothing to be safely handled. You’ll also have to sign a liability waiver, just in case.”

Read more at Marie Curie’s century-old radioactive notebook still requires lead box.