I have to keep going, as there are always people on my track. I have to publish my present work as rapidly as possible in order to keep in the race. The best sprinters in this road of investigation are Becquerel and the Curies.

Never say, "I tried it once and it did not work."

Don't let me catch anyone talking about the Universe in my department.

[From uranium] there are present at least two distinct types of radiation one that is very readily absorbed, which will be termed for convenience the α radiation, and the other of a more penetrative character, which will be termed the β radiation.

It was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came back and hit you.

An alleged scientific discovery has no merit unless it can be explained to a barmaid.

Every good laboratory consists of first rate men working in great harmony to insure the progress of science; but down at the end of the hall is an unsociable, wrong-headed fellow working on unprofitable lines, and in his hands lies the hope of discovery.