Meet Irene, Daughter of Nobel Prize Winner Marie Curie

In children’s imaginations, parents are always heroes capable of accomplishing humanity’s greatest deeds when they banish monsters from under our beds. But have you ever dreamed of having Nobel Prize-winning parents?

Irene Joliot Curie She is the eldest daughter of Pierre Curie (1859-1906) and Marie Sklodowska-Curie (1867-1934), who won not one but two Nobel Prizes in different fields.

Prizes in physics and chemistry were awarded in 1903 for work with radioactivity, and in 1911 for the discovery of the elements Radium and Polonium, which Marie received alone.

Irene followed in her family’s footsteps and, together with her husband, revolutionized science. discovery of artificial radioactivity🇧🇷

Irene’s story

The eldest daughter of scientists Pierre and Marie Curie, Irene was born in Paris on September 12, 1897.

Her education was privileged as Anne, in partnership with her scientific colleagues, founded a cooperative so that children could receive a quality education.

Irene graduated from Collège Sévigné and began her studies at the University of Paris, but her studies were interrupted due to the First World War (1914 – 1918).

He joined his mother during this period, and they worked together in field hospitals, training and assisting doctors and nurses in using the newly created X-ray machines.

After the war, Irene continued to assist her mother at the Radium Institute at the University of Paris, now the Curie Institute.

In 1925 he presented his doctoral thesis on the alpha rays of the element polonium.

Partnership for life and Nobel

Irene met her husband, Frederic Joliot, who is a chemical engineer, while working in her mother’s laboratory.

Together, they conducted various studies on radioactive elements and were successful. converting an item for the first timeartificially reproduces radioactivity.

At that time, radioactive elements were extracted from natural sources in a long and very expensive process.

With advances in medicine and the use of technologies like x-rays, it has become imperative to find a way to make these elements cheaper and more accessible.

Thanks to the couple’s experiments, more raw materials can be produced artificially, which allows for new developments in the field of medicine.

Artificiality and the Nobel Prize

The notorious experiment, which won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1935, was based on bombarding non-radioactive elements with alpha particles.

With this stimulus, there was a change in the element’s atoms that continued to emit particles even after the exposure ended.

The particles’ response to exposure resulted in more unstable radioactive isotopes with shorter half-lives, but artificially produced radioactivity was observed for the first time.

The work was titled “Artificial production of radioactive elements – Chemical evidence of the conversion of elements.”

We now know that any item, such as clothing, equipment or water, begins to emit radiation when exposed to radiation sources for a long time.

But in 1934, for the first time, a person was able to really see the occurrence of the phenomenon.

Thanks to this discovery, medicine gained new tools to study and understand physiological phenomena. It was also possible for the first time to observe how iodine is absorbed by the thyroid gland.

But beyond the field of medicine, nuclear physics also gained ground. Inspired by the work of Joliot-Curie, Enrico Fermi bombarded uranium with neutron particles. It start for the creation of the atomic bomb.

beyond science

Irene was also a prominent political activist and always kept in mind the importance of scientific progress.

In 1936 he was one of the pioneers of the National Center for Scientific Research in France and maintained a watchdog group against fascist activities in science, affiliated with the socialist party.

Irene was also very active in women’s cause as a member of the National Committee of the French Women’s League and the World Peace Council.

Professor, scientist, doctor, activist, mother, wife, academically respected, knowledge-hungry mind.

Definitely an example to all women who are into science or who aspire to one day be a part of this fascinating field of human knowledge.

Irene passed away in 1956 from leukemia caused by radiation exposure. But she left an exemplary legacy to all women and science!