Irène Joliot-Curie

1897–1956 CHEMIST FRANCE

A task once begun develops in an unexpected fashion, opening new paths for future work. And thus we satisfy our spirit of adventure.

—IRÈNE JOLIOT-CURIE

Irène was surrounded by army doctors, medical equipment, and wounded soldiers. Blood was everywhere, and she could hear the battle raging in the distance over the cries of the sick and dying men around her. But eighteen-year-old Irène Curie was used to these horrifying distractions and focused her attention on setting up the new machine. The French doctors and nurses at the army hospital wondered what young Irène’s mysterious contraption was all about.

When she finished setting up, Irène asked for a patient to volunteer. The doctors and nurses gasped in amazement as the soldier’s leg bone magically appeared on the screen before them. They could see completely inside his leg—through the skin, the blood, and the muscle—right to the bone. And they could see exactly where the bone was broken. Irène was showing them the radioactive technology she and her mother had been working on: the groundbreaking X-ray machine!

Irène was very athletic and loved the outdoors. Her favorite sports were biking, skiing, swimming, and mountain climbing, all of which she continued throughout her life.

Irène Curie was born to Nobel Prize–winning scientists Pierre and Marie Curie on September 12, 1897, in Paris. Her parents spent much of their time working, so she and her younger sister were largely raised by their grandfather, especially after Pierre’s death in 1906. Irène was a quiet and thoughtful child who loved nature, poetry, and reading, but most of all, science. Although many girls were discouraged from studying math and science at the time, Marie Curie strongly supported her daughters’ education in these subjects.

In fact, Marie considered most French schools too narrow in their academic offerings, so she started a cooperative school for her daughters and eight other children of university professors. The professors themselves taught lessons in art, literature, science, math, English, and German. The cooperative school lasted only a couple of years, though, and after that Irène spent two years at a private girls’ school. She later attended the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris and received her doctoral degree for her study of alpha particles in 1925.

Throughout her life, Irène was greatly inspired by her mother. Marie Curie was the first woman to earn a doctoral degree in France, the first woman to teach at Sorbonne, and the first woman in the world to win a Nobel Prize (she won two: the first in physics and the second in chemistry). Irène learned a lot from her mother, and they often worked together.

When World War I broke out, Irène and Marie put together X-ray units for the battlefront. Irène traveled to the French front lines to set them up and teach people how to use them. She showed doctors and nurses how to take X-rays of soldiers’ wounds and how to locate bone breaks and pieces of shrapnel in the images. She then helped surgeons determine the best angle from which to enter the wounds for treatment.

After the war, Irène continued as her mother’s assistant at the Radium Institute of the University of Paris. There she met her future husband and research partner, Frédéric Joliot. They married in 1926 and had two children: Hélène in 1927 and Pierre in 1932.

After their marriage, Irène and Frédéric began referring to themselves as the Joliot-Curies. Together, they conducted groundbreaking experiments and wrote hundreds of reports. In 1934 Irène and Frédéric began experimenting with two metals, polonium and aluminum. Their results led them to a revolutionary discovery: they could create artificial radioactivity! This discovery earned Irène and Frédéric the 1935 Nobel Prize in chemistry. With this award, Irène and her mother, Marie, became the only mother and daughter to both win a Nobel Prize.

Sadly, Marie couldn’t share in her daughter’s triumph. At the time, no one knew how deadly it was to be exposed to radioactive chemicals. Because of her intense contact with these chemicals in her research, Marie died of leukemia one year before Irène’s Nobel Prize was awarded.

After her mother’s death, Irène continued her research, and Frédéric started work as a scientist at the Collège de France. Irène became a strong supporter for women’s rights and was a member of the National Committee of the Union of French Women. In 1936 she became one of the first female cabinet members in France when she was named as the undersecretary of state for scientific research. She was also a member of the World Peace Council and an officer of the French Legion of Honor.

Irène remained committed to her research, and in 1938 she conducted another groundbreaking experiment. Although she considered her conclusions useless because they did not support what she was working on, later scientists repeated her experiment and realized that Irène had actually discovered nuclear fission (the splitting apart of atoms). Her results were analyzed by nuclear physicists and laid the crucial foundation for this important area of study.

Irène and Frédéric had two children. Hélène would grow up to be a physicist and Pierre a biologist.

Irène dedicated her life to her research and continued working in the laboratory until her death in 1956. Like her mother, she also died of leukemia, giving her life for her work. The French government organized a national funeral to honor the life of this great scientist who made some of the most significant scientific discoveries of her time.

HOW WILL YOU ROCK THE WORLD?

Finding a cure for cancer is one out of many ways that I’ll rock the world. Today cancer is a mystery, but I’m going to solve that mystery.

MARIA AYóN AGE 13