Irène Joliot-Curie (1897-1956)

Awarded the Prize “in recognition of her, with Frédéric Joliot, synthesis of new radioactive elements.”

French physical chemist. Irène Joliot-Curie was born in Paris on September 12, 1897. She received little formal schooling, attending instead informal classes where she was taught physics by her mother, mathematics by Paul Langevin, chemistry by Jean Baptiste Perrin. After having started her studies at the Faculty of Science in Paris, she served as a nurse radiographer during the First World War. She became Doctor of Science in 1925. Appointed as a lecturer in 1932, she became Professor at the Faculty of Science in Paris in 1937, afterwards Director of the Radium Institute in 1946. Being a Commissioner for Atomic Energy for six years, Irène took part in its creation in the construction of the first French atomic pile (1948). Irène Joliot-Curie died on March 17, 1956 in Paris.