February 26, 2024

Mütter Museum to host Radiant Ball in honor of Marie Curie

The inaugural event in April will feature 'shimmering' drinks, live jazz and museum rarities

By Kristin Hunt
PhillyVoice Staff

André Castaigne/Public Domain

Marie Curie and her husband, Pierre, depicted above in a drawing by André Castaigne, made ground-breaking discoveries about radium and radioactivity. The Mütter Museum will host a Radiant Ball in her honor on April 12.

Glow like a ball of radium at a party celebrating the woman who discovered it. The Mütter Museum is gearing up to host its first Radiant Ball inspired by Marie Curie, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who first isolated the chemical element.

The ball will be held on Friday, April 12, in the museum's century-old building. Drew Nugent & the Midnight Society will play live jazz as guests take a peak at rarely seen items in the museum collection. Light bites will also be served, along with "shimmering" cocktails.

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Early bird tickets, which come with one complimentary drink, are now on sale for $35.

The museum and its parent organization, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, have a personal connection to Curie. During her first trip to America in 1921, she visited the college on her way to Pittsburgh to tour the Standard Chemical Company radium plant. Curie presented and donated her piezoelectric apparatus, one of the earliest devices to measure radioactivity, to the college. It has resided at the Mütter Museum ever since.