[2] The family was of modest means, but Suzanne was well educated (largely by her father), becoming fluent in Latin and showing aptitude for mathematics and science.

[2] Her first salon was a literary group called the Académie des Eaux comprising a circle of Lausanne-based students with Curchod as president.

[2] In 1757 Curchod met the historian Edward Gibbon, who fell in love with her, writing in a later recollection of their courtship that he "found her learned without pedantry, lively in conversation, pure in sentiment, and elegant in manners.

"[2] He wished to marry her, but paternal disapproval on both sides, Gibbon's own wavering, and Suzanne's refusal to leave Switzerland for England thwarted their plans.

It was at one of Madame Necker's dinners that a group of men of letters first proposed starting a subscription to pay for a statue of Voltaire by the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle.

The time commitment involved in running a salon, combined with her husband's dislike of bluestocking authors, prevented Madame Necker from pursuing her interest in writing to the extent she desired.

She enlisted the services of around a dozen Sisters of Charity, the women who traditionally managed the day-to-day tasks and tended to patients in French hospitals.

[6] Madame Necker aimed to improve patient care while maintaining the institution’s financial efficiency, as detailed in the preface of the hospital’s first annual report from 1780.

[7] She summarized her goals for the Hospice de Charité project thus: The dedication of Madame Necker and the staff to upholding a standard of good care with limited means was recognized by visitors to the hospital.

[9] Although some critics felt that the Hospice de Charité was not entirely successful in demonstrating the advantages of small hospitals, it proved to be an influential model.

[15] As an adult, her afflictions included endless spells of coughs, chills, and fevers, as well as vaguely described conditions that are hypothesized to have been mental illnesses.