Irène Joliot-Curie

        Irene Joliot-Curie was a French scientist who along with her husband, Frédéric Joliot, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 “in recognition of their synthesis of new radioactive elements.” She was born as Irene Curie to scientist parents, Pierre and Marie Curie. A child prodigy, her parents discovered her knack for mathematical abilities and skills when Irene turned ten and started her formal education. Irene’s abilities earned her a seat at the Faculty of Science at the Sorbonne. Though World War I disrupted her studies, she did not squander her time and instead worked as a nurse radiographer along with her mother. Following her doctorate degree and marriage to fellow researcher Frederic Joliot, Irene Joliot-Curie immersed herself completely into scientific research. In 1934, the magnum opus of her career came as she discovered artificial radioactivity along with her husband. The two initiated the start of a new legacy in scientific studies. The artificially created radioactive isotopes, though short-lived, were applied in medicine. They were cheap and could be quickly created in plentiful numbers. For their discovery of artificial radioactivity, the Joliot-Curie couple was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Following this, she continued her research on the action of neutrons on the heavy elements. Scientific career apart, Joliot-Curie was active politically. She worked for improving the social standard of women and also took up administrative position at several governmental institutes.

Irene Joliot Curie was born as Irene Curie to Pierre and Marie Curie on September 12, 1897, in Paris, France.

        Academically brilliant, young Curie began her formal education at the age of 10. Within a year, her mathematical skills brought her to prominence. Wanting to put little Curie in a challenging environment so as to make the best use of her academic capabilities, her parents joined ‘The Cooperative’ a private gathering that included some of the most distinguished names in academics in France.

For two years, she studied at the Cooperative, getting trained by some of the most distinguished French scholars. Interestingly, the curriculum of Cooperative did not limit itself to scientific studies alone. In fact, children were taught diverse subjects, right from language to sculpture and even self-expression and play.

       Following her training at the Cooperative, Curie enrolled at an orthodox school environment at Collège Sévigné in central Paris. She studied therein for two years, from 1912 to 1914 before enrolling at the Faculty of Science at Sorbonne.

       While she was studying for her bachelor’s degree at the Faculty of Science, World War I commenced. Her studies were stalled by the war. During the war, she collaborated with her mother, Marie Curie, who was running 20 mobile field hospitals. Both mother and daughter worked as nurse radiographers, working on the then newly conceived X-Ray equipment.

        Post War, Irene returned to Paris. She studied at her parent’s institute, Radium Institute. Alongside, she also served as her mother’s assistant at the institute. In 1925, she completed her doctoral thesis on the alpha rays of polonium, an element found by her parents.

        Year 1925 was a satisfying year for Irene Curie, professionally and personally. While she became Doctor of Science that year, at the same time she met her future husband, Frederic Joliot, who interned with her mother at the Radium Institute.

        After her wedding with fellow researcher Frederic Joliot, the duo adopted the surname Joliot-Curie. Since 1928, Joliot-Curie and her husband Frederic combined their research efforts on the study of atomic nuclei.

        During the initial years of research, though the husband-wife duo identified positron and neutron, they failed to interpret the same into their results. Later on Carl David Anderson and James Chadwick were credited with the discovery of positron and neutron respectively. In 1932, she was appointed lecturer at the Faculty of Science.

       In 1934, Joliot-Curie along with her husband Frederic struck gold with the discovery of artificial radioactivity. They were primarily building on Pierre and Marie Curie’s work, when they finally created isolated naturally occurring radioactive elements. The discovery was a milestone in science.

       Joliot-Curies bombarded boron, aluminium, and magnesium with alpha particles. On bombardment, they obtained radioactive isotopes of elements not ordinarily radioactive, namely, 13 of nitrogen, 30 of phosphorus, 27 of silicon and 28 of aluminium. Since these elements are not found naturally, they would decompose easily emitting positive and negative electrons.

       The discovery of artificial radioactivity was revolutionary in the field of science. Both Joliot-Curie and her husband sealed their place in scientific history with their finding as creation of artificial radioactive materials assisted in filling up for the huge demand for radioactive element that were then used in medicines.

       Her most significant contribution to science came with the discovery of artificial radioactivity, which was a milestone in the field of science. The discovery allowed for the creation of short-lived, but easy to create radioactive isotopes from elements such as aluminium, boron, sulphur and phosphorous. These artificially created radioactive isotopes were used in medicine. Also, the production of these unstable atomic nuclei afforded further means for the observation of changes in the atom as these nuclei broke down.

       In 1935, Irene Joliot-Curie was bestowed with the coveted Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of artificial radioactivity along with her husband and researcher Frederic Joliot-Curie.

       In 1940, she was a fellow recipient of the Barnard College Gold Medal for Meritorious Service to Science, along with her husband Frederic Joliot-Curie.

       Throughout her life, Joliot-Curie served as a member of several foreign academies and scientific societies.

        Irene Curie met her future husband, Frederic Joliot while working as an assistant to her mother at Radium Institute. He shared her interest in science, sports, humanism and arts.

         Irene married Frederic in 1926. The duo adopted a hyphenated surname after marriage and were known as Joliot-Curies’. The couple was blessed with two children, a daughter Helena who became a noted physicist and a son Pierre who was a biologist.

        During World War II, Joliot-Curie contracted tuberculosis. She was forced to spend several years convalescing in Switzerland. Though she made frequent trips back to France, they were dangerous as she served several detentions.

        Years of being exposed to radioactive materials impacted the life of Irene Joliot-Curie. During the last days, she suffered from leukemia, which was a direct result of the accidental exposure to polonium in 1946 when a sealed capsule containing the element exploded. Though a series of operation temporarily relieved her, she failed to make it up.

       She breathed her last on March 17, 1956, at the age of 58, in Paris, France.

 

Marie Curie

Marie Curie was the first truly famous woman scientist in the modern world. She was known as the "Mother of Modern Physics" for her pioneer work in research about radioactivity, a word she coined. She was the first woman awarded a Ph.D. in research science in Europe and the first woman professor at the Sorbonne.

Curie discovered and isolated polonium and radium, and established the nature of radiation and beta rays. She won Nobel Prizes in 1903 (Physics) and 1911 (Chemistry) and was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, and the first person to win Nobel Prizes in two different scientific disciplines.

Fast Facts: Marie Curie

• Known For: Research in radioactivity and discovery of polonium and radium. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (Physics in 1903), and the first person to win a second Nobel Prize (Chemistry in 1911)
• Also Known As: Maria Sklodowska
• Born: November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland
• Died: July 4, 1934 in Passy, France
• Spouse: Pierre Curie (m. 1896-1906)
• Children: Irène and Ève
• Interesting Fact: Marie Curie's daughter, Irène, also won a Nobel Prize (Chemistry in 1935)

• Early Life and Education

  Marie Curie was born in Warsaw, the youngest of five children. Her father was a physics teacher, her mother, who died when Curie was 11, was also an educator.

  After graduating with high honors in her early schooling, Marie Curie found herself, as a woman, without options in Poland for higher education. She spent some time as a governess, and in 1891 followed her sister, already a gynecologist, to Paris.

  In Paris, Marie Curie enrolled at the Sorbonne. She graduated in first place in physics (1893), then, on a scholarship, returned for a degree in mathematics in which she took second place (1894). Her plan was to return to teach in Poland.

  Research and Marriage

  She began to work as a researcher in Paris. Through her work, she met a French scientist, Pierre Curie, in 1894 when he was 35. They were married on July 26, 1895, in a civil marriage.

  Their first child, Irène, was born in 1897. Marie Curie continued to work on her research and began work as a physics lecturer at a girls' school.

  Radioactivity

  Inspired by work on radioactivity in uranium by Henri Becquerel, Marie Curie began research on "Becquerel rays" to see if other elements also had this quality. First, she discovered radioactivity in thorium, then demonstrated that the radioactivity is not a property of an interaction between elements but is an atomic property, a property of the interior of the atom rather than how it is arranged in a molecule.

  On April 12, 1898, she published her hypothesis of a still-unknown radioactive element, and worked with pitchblende and chalcocite, both uranium ores, to isolate this element. Pierre joined her in this research.

  Marie Curie and Pierre Curie thus discovered first polonium (named for her native Poland) and then radium. They announced these elements in 1898. Polonium and radium were present in very small amounts in pitchblende, along with larger quantities of uranium. Isolating the very small amounts of the new elements took years of work.

  On January 12, 1902, Marie Curie isolated pure radium, and her 1903 dissertation resulted in the first advanced scientific research degree to be awarded to a woman in France—the first doctorate in science awarded to a woman in all of Europe.

  In 1903, for their work, Marie Curie, her husband Pierre, and Henry Becquerel, were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. The Nobel Prize committee reportedly first considered giving the award to Pierre Curie and Henry Becquerel, and Pierre worked behind the scenes to ensure that Marie Curie won appropriate recognition by being included.

  It was also in 1903 that Marie and Pierre lost a child, born prematurely.

  Radiation poisoning from working with radioactive substances had begun to take a toll, though the Curies did not know it or were in denial of that. They were both too sickly to attend the 1903 Nobel ceremony in Stockholm.

  In 1904, Pierre was given a professorship at the Sorbonne for his work. The professorship established more financial security for the Curie family—Pierre's father had moved in to help care for the children. Marie was given a small salary and a title as Chief of the Laboratory.

  That same year, the Curies established the use of radiation therapy for cancer and lupus, and their second daughter, Ève, was born. Ève would later write a biography of her mother.

  In 1905, the Curies finally traveled to Stockholm, and Pierre gave the Nobel Lecture. Marie was annoyed by the attention to their romance rather than to their scientific work.

  From Wife to Professor

  But security was short-lived, as Pierre was killed suddenly in 1906 when he was run over by a horse-drawn carriage on a Paris street. This left Marie Curie a widow with responsibility for raising her two young daughters.

  Marie Curie was offered a national pension, but turned it down. A month after Pierre's death, she was offered his chair at the Sorbonne, and she accepted. Two years later she was elected a full professor—the first woman to hold a chair at the Sorbonne.

  Further Work

  Marie Curie spent the next years organizing her research, supervising the research of others, and raising funds. Her Treatise on Radioactivity was published in 1910.

  Early in 1911, Marie Curie was denied election to the French Academy of Sciences by one vote. Emile Hilaire Amagat said of the vote, "Women cannot be part of the Institute of France." Marie Curie refused to have her name resubmitted for nomination and refused to allow the Academy to publish any of her work for ten years. The press attacked her for her candidacy.

  Nevertheless, that same year she was appointed director of the Marie Curie Laboratory, part of the Radium Institute of the University of Paris, and of the Institute for Radioactivity in Warsaw, and she was awarded a second Nobel Prize.

  Tempering her successes that year was a scandal: a newspaper editor alleged an affair between Marie Curie and a married scientist. He denied the charges, and the controversy ended when the editor and scientist arranged a duel, but neither fired. Years later, Marie and Pierre's granddaughter married the grandson of the scientist which whom she may have had the affair.

  During World War I, Marie Curie chose to support the French war effort actively. She put her prize winnings into war bonds and fitted ambulances with portable x-ray equipment for medical purposes, driving the vehicles to the front lines. She established two hundred permanent x-ray installations in France and Belgium.

  After the war, her daughter Irene joined Marie Curie as an assistant at the laboratory. The Curie Foundation was established in 1920 to work on medical applications for radium. Marie Curie took an important trip to the United States in 1921 to accept the generous gift of a gram of pure radium for research. In 1924, she published her biography of her husband.

  Illness and Death

  The work of Marie Curie, her husband, and colleagues with radioactivity was done in ignorance of its effect on human health. Marie Curie and her daughter Irene contracted leukemia, apparently induced by exposure to high levels of radioactivity. The notebooks of Marie Curie are still so radioactive that they cannot be handled. Marie Curie's health was declining seriously by the end of the 1920s. Cataracts contributed to failing vision. Marie Curie retired to a sanatorium, with her daughter Eve as her companion. She died of pernicious anemia, also most likely an effect of the radioactivity in her work, in 1934.

12 Famous Female Chemists in History

 Here are a dozen famous pioneering female chemists to help mark International Women’s Day. There accomplishments include pioneering research on radioactivity, the idea of nuclear fission, treatment for leprosy, development of the polymer Kevlar and the first immunosuppresive drug used for organ transplants.

The list includes five Nobel Price winners and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences. Unfortunately, you’ll notice a lot of their accomplishments were not recognized until after their death. The world keep evolving.

Gerty Theresa Cori – Born 1896, Died 1957

Cori helped establish how glycogen is broken down in muscles then remade and stored as an energy source (the Cori Cycle). She jointly won a Nobel Prize for her work.

Kathleen Lonsdale – Born 1903, Died 1971

Lonsdale pioneered use of X-rays to study crystals, and also used the technique to confirm that a benzene ring is flat. A form of carbon, Lonsdaleite, is named after her.

Rosalind Franklin – Born 1920, Died 1958

Franklin made X-ray diffraction images of DNA, crucial in allowing DNA’s structure to be discerned. This contribution wasn’t fully acknowledged until after her death.

Marie Sklodowska Curie – Born 1867, Died 1934

Curie carried out pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences.

Ida Eve Noddack – Born 1896, Died 1978

Noddack was the first person to propose the idea of nuclear fission, which she suggested in 1934. She was also the co-discoverer of rhenium, in 1925.

Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier – Born 1758, Died 1836

Paulze married chemist Antoine Lavoisier and received training in chemistry. She worked with Lavoiser editing and drawing his methods so they could be understood.

Dorothy Mary Hodgkin – Born 1910, Died 1994

Hodgkin used X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of vitamin B12, for which she won a Nobel Prize. She went on to decipher the structure of insulin

Marie Maynard Daly – Born 1921, Died 2003

Daly, thought to have been the first Black American woman to earn a PhD in chemistry, in 1947. She later researched effects of cigarette smoke on the lungs.

Alice Augusta Ball – Born 1892, Died 1916

Ball developed an injectable oil which was the most effective treatment for leprosy until the 1940s. She died before the results of her work were published.

Irene Joliot-Curie – Born 1897, Died 1956

Irene was the daughter of Marie Curie. A joint Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner in 1935 with Frédéric Joliot-Curie for their discovery of and work on artificial radioactivity.

Gertrude Belle Elion – Born 1918, Died 1999

Elian developed numerous drugs, including the first immunosuppresive drug used for organ transplants. She jointly won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.

Stephanie Kwolek – Born 1923, Died 2014

Kwolek developed the polymer Kevlar and won many awards for her work on polymer chemistry. She also developed the ‘nylon rope trick’ chemistry demonstration.