Nuclear Museum Logo
Nuclear Museum Logo

National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Irene Joliot-Curie

ChemistFrance

Nobel Prize WinnerScientistWoman Scientist
Irene Juliot-Curie

Irène Joliot-Curie (1897-1956) was a French scientist and 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner. While she was not a part of the Manhattan Project, her earlier research was instrumental in the creation of the atomic bomb.

 

Early Life

As the daughter of renowned scientists Marie and Pierre Curie, Irene developed an early interest in science. During World War I, she worked with her mother at the mobile field hospitals, operating the x-ray machines that her mother developed. Irene then returned to Paris to study chemistry at her parents’ Radium Institute where she wrote her doctoral thesis about radiation emitted by polonium. The same year, her future husband Frederic Joliot joined the Radium Institute. Like her parents, they decided to conduct research jointly.  

 

Scientific Contributions

In 1933, the Joliot-Curies made the discovery that radioactive elements can be artificially produced from stable elements. This was done by exposing aluminum foil to alpha particles. When the radioactive source was removed, the Joliot-Curies discovered that the aluminum had become radioactive. For this research, the couple was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935.

This discovery had a significant impact and spurred research into radioisotopes and the practical applications of radiochemistry, especially in medicine. For example, researchers discovered isotopes such as a radioactive form of iodine, which was consequently used to treat thyroid diseases. Because the Joliot-Curies’ discovery proved that radioactive isotopes could be made relatively inexpensively, the difficult task of separating naturally occurring radioactive isotopes from their ores was no longer necessary. 

 

Later Years

During World War II, Joliot-Curie spent time in Switzerland recovering from tuberculosis. She visited her family in occupied France until finally bringing her children with her to Switzerland in 1944. Two years later, she was named the director of the Radium Institute. At the age of 59, Joliot-Curie died of leukemia caused by years of radiation exposure. 

Irene Joliot-Curie's Timeline
1897 Sep 12th Born in Paris, France.
1925 Received Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Paris.
1935 Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discovery of artificial radioactivity.
1956 Mar 17th Died in Paris, France.

Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie at their Nobel Prize ceremony. Photo courtesy Nobelprize.org

Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie at work in their lab. Photo courtesy Association Curie Joliot-Curie

Related Profiles

Garret Martin

France

Garret Martin is a professor at American University’s School of International Service and is the author of General de Gaulle’s Cold War: Challenging American Hegemony, 1963-68.

John R. Wieneke

Los Alamos, NM

John Wieneke was an American physicist who worked at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. Wieneke later worked on the post-war nuclear program at the Nevada test site in the 1950s.

Philip Morrison

Los Alamos, NM

Philip Morrison (1915-2005) was an American physicist. Morrison studied under J. Robert Oppenheimer at the University of California, Berkeley, and received his Ph.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Los Alamos, NM

J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) was an American theoretical physicist.  During the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer was director of the Los Alamos Laboratory and responsible for the research and design of an atomic bomb.