History
The Institut du Radium, a giant laboratory for Marie Skłodowska–Curie, was founded in 1909 by the University of Paris and Institut Pasteur. The Institut du Radium had two sections. The Curie laboratory, directed by Maria Skłodowska-Curie, was dedicated to physics and chemistry research. The Pasteur laboratory, directed by Claudius Regaud, was studying the biological and medical effects of radioactivity. After receiving a joint Nobel Prize with her husband Pierre in 1903, Maria Skłodowska-Curie won a second Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911. During World War One, Skłodowska-Curie used it to teach nurses about radiology.
Maria Skłodowska-Curie and Claudius Regaud established the Foundation Curie in 1920, a public interest institution. The Foundation's purpose was to fund the Institut du Radium's activities and contribute to the development of its therapeutic component. A first hospital opened in 1922. At the clinic, Regaud and his team developed innovative treatments combining surgery and radiation therapy to treat cancer. The Curie Foundation became a model for cancer centers around the world. Curie laboratory continued to play an important role in physics and chemistry research. In 1934, Skłodowska-Curie's daughter Irène and her son-in-law Frédéric Joliot-Curie discovered artificial radioactivity. In 1935, it was recognized with a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Institut du Radium and the Fondation Curie merged in 1970. It became Institut Curie. The Institut has three missions: research, teaching and treating cancer. The original building of Curies Laboratory from 1914 now houses the Musée Curie.
Nobel Laureates and female scientists mentorship
Six Nobel prizes laureates (and four Nobel prizes) are attached to the Institute's researchers.
- Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Physics, 1903 - thus becoming the first ever woman awarded the Nobel Prize
- Maria Skłodowska-Curie. Chemistry, 1911 - thus becoming the only person in the world, women or men, awarded two Nobel Prizes in two different sciences (Peace prize excluded), originally the first person and, to this day, the first and only woman with two Nobel Prizes cf. Statistics on the Nobel Prize
- Pierre Curie, Physics, 1903 - thus becoming the first married couple to receive the Nobel Prize
- Irène Joliot-Curie, Chemistry, 1935 - thus becoming the only mother-daughter [4] and sole father-daughter pairs in the world to have received a Nobel Prize to this day [5]
- Frédéric Joliot-Curie, Chemistry, 1935 - thus making of the Curie Institute the only research center in the world with two wife-and-husband researching couples awarded with the Nobel Prize
- Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Physics, 1991
43% of all scientific women Nobel prize laureates from France (three prizes out of seven received by French women in "hard" sciences and Economy) to this day received them for research conducted at Institut Curie or its ancestor the Radium Institute. If Economy - a social science - is excluded, 50% i.e 3 Nobel Prizes out of 6 received by French scientific women are affiliated to the Curie Institute.
Hence why it is considered that, based on internationally recognised prizes garnered by its researchers, no other research center in the world has hosted that many pioneering women scientists.
Moreover, Curie mentored upwards of 45 scientific women from all over the world [6] [7] [8] [9] including Marguerite Perey, discoverer of francium - five-time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Jeanne Ferrier, discoverer of autoradiography, amongst many other peers: Sonia Cotelle, Harriet Brooks, Alice Leigh-Smith, Eva Ramstedt, Lucie Blanquies, Suzanne Veil, Catherine Chamié, Alicja Dorabialska, Ellen Gleditsch, Marthe Weiss, Antonia Elisabeth Korvezee, May Sybil Leslie, Ștefania Mărăcineanu, Branca Edmée Marques, Eliane Montel, Elizabeth Rona, Jadwiga Szmidt, Margarete von Wrangell, Renée Galabert, Isabelle Archinard, and last but not least, Curie's secretary of over 30 years: Léonie Razet. [10]
The Radium Institute also pioneered mobile radiography during World War I where upwards of 150 proto-nurses (nursing diploma in France only in 1922) and radiology pioneers where trained and even more post-war. [11] [12]
Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie, known simply as Marie Curie, was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Her husband, Pierre Curie, was a co-winner of her first Nobel Prize, making them the first married couple to win the Nobel Prize and launching the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. She was, in 1906, the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris.
Pierre Curie was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity. In 1903, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Skłodowska–Curie, and Henri Becquerel, "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel". With their win, the Curies became the first married couple to win the Nobel Prize, launching the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes.
Irène Joliot-Curie was a French chemist, physicist and politician, the elder daughter of Pierre Curie and Marie Skłodowska–Curie, and the wife of Frédéric Joliot-Curie. Jointly with her husband, Joliot-Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of induced radioactivity, making them the second-ever married couple to win the Nobel Prize, while adding to the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. This made the Curies the family with the most Nobel laureates to date.
Marguerite Catherine Perey was a French physicist and a student of Marie Curie. In 1939, Perey discovered the element francium by purifying samples of lanthanum that contained actinium. In 1962, she was the first woman to be elected to the French Académie des Sciences, an honor denied to her mentor Curie. Perey died of cancer in 1975.
ESPCI Paris is a grande école founded in 1882 by the city of Paris, France. It educates undergraduate and graduate students in physics, chemistry and biology and conducts high-level research in those fields. It is ranked as the first French École d'Ingénieurs in the 2017 Shanghai Ranking.
Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie was a French physicist and husband of Irène Joliot-Curie, with whom he was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of induced radioactivity. They were the second married couple, after his wife's parents, to win the Nobel Prize, adding to the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. Joliot-Curie and his wife also founded the Orsay Faculty of Sciences, part of the Paris-Saclay University.
The French National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics, also known as CNRS Nucléaire & Particules, is the coordinating body for nuclear and particle physics in France. It was established in 1971 as a division of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Its purpose is "to promote and unite research activities in the various fields of physics".
Induced radioactivity, also called artificial radioactivity or man-made radioactivity, is the process of using radiation to make a previously stable material radioactive. The husband-and-wife team of Irène Joliot-Curie and Frédéric Joliot-Curie discovered induced radioactivity in 1934, and they shared the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this discovery.
Hélène Langevin-Joliot is a French nuclear physicist known for her research on nuclear reactions in French laboratories and for being the granddaughter of Marie Curie and Pierre Curie and the daughter of Irene Joliot-Curie and Frédéric Joliot-Curie, all four of whom have received Nobel Prizes, in Physics or Chemistry. Since retiring from a career in research Hélène has participated in activism centered around encouraging women and girls to participate in STEM fields. Her activism also revolves around promoting greater science literacy for the general public.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) is a set of major research fellowships created by the European Union/European Commission to support research in the European Research Area (ERA). The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are among Europe's most competitive and prestigious research and innovation fellowships.
Pierre Adrien Joliot-Curie is a French biologist and researcher for the French National Centre for Scientific Research. A researcher there since 1956, he became a Director of Research in 1974 and a member of their scientific council in 1992. He was a scientific advisor to the French Prime Minister from 1985 to 1986 and is a member of Academia Europæa. He was made a commander of the Ordre National du Mérite in 1982 and of the Légion d'honneur in 1984.
The Musée Curie is a historical museum focusing on radiological research. It is located in the 5th arrondissement at 1, rue Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, and open Wednesday to Saturday, from 1pm to 5pm; admission is free. The museum was renovated in 2012, thanks to a donation from Ève Curie.
Claudius Regaud was a French medical doctor and biologist, one of the pioneers in radiotherapy at the Curie Institute.
Ștefania Mărăcineanu was a Romanian physicist. She worked with Marie Curie and studied the element named for Curie's homeland Polonium. She made proposals that later lead to Irène Joliot-Curie's Nobel Prize. Mărăcineanu believed that Joliot-Curie had taken her work on Induced radioactivity to receive the prize.
This is a list of women chemists. It should include those who have been important to the development or practice of chemistry. Their research or application has made significant contributions in the area of basic or applied chemistry.
Eliane Montel was a French physicist and chemist.
The Curie family is a French-Polish family from which hailed a number of distinguished scientists. Polish-born Marie Skłodowska-Curie, her French husband Pierre Curie, their daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, and son-in-law, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, are its most prominent members. Five members of the family in total were awarded a Nobel Prize, with Marie winning twice.
Radioactive is a 2019 British biographical drama film directed by Marjane Satrapi, written by Jack Thorne, and starring Rosamund Pike as Marie Curie. The film is based on the 2010 graphic novel Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by the American artist Lauren Redniss.
Hakima Mendil-Jakani is a French physical chemist and engineer specializing in soft condensed matter. In 2007, she won the Young Female Scientist Award of the Irène Joliot-Curie Prize.
