LSAT 113 | Section 1 | Reading Comprehension: Q8

RC Question 8 Explanation

DISCUSSION: The main idea is that Marie Curie was a pioneering researcher. She is not to blame for not figuring out the mechanism of radiation.

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1. Who knows? We’re not told who discovered quantum mechanics, or why. All we know is that quantum mechanics explained radiation. But radiation might not have been necessary for quantum mechanics.
2. CORRECT. Marie Curie took us forward, even if she made some mistakes. Paragraphs 2-4 are devoted to rationalizing Curie’s failure to correctly explain radiation. 
3. Lines 56-60 contradict this. We should forgive Marie Curie’s failure to identify the real cause of radiation.
4. Not so. Marie Curie couldn’t explain radiation, but she made other important discoveries, such as radium and polonium (lines 9-10).
5. We’re not told whether Curie had any influence on chemists. And this is way off base: the passage was about Curie, the chemists were only mentioned in passing.