[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.

[2] With the loss of income resulting from the death of her father, Curchod and her mother were left very poor, a situation she coped with by giving lessons.

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.