Frédéric Joliot-Curie (1900

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Biography

Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie was a French chemist and physicist who received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with his wife, Irène Joliot-Curie, for their discovery of induced radioactivity. They were the second married couple, after his parents-in-law, 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.

Timeline

The story of Frédéric Joliot-Curie, told in moments.

1926 Event

Married Irene Curie, Marie's daughter. They both hyphenated their surnames. He became her research partner in the Radium Institute lab her mother had built.

Was working in Marie's old lab inspiring or overwhelming? Did you ever feel like you were in Irene's shadow?

1935 Event

Won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Irene for discovering artificial radioactivity. They bombarded aluminum with alpha particles and created a new phosphorus isotope.

What was discovering artificial radioactivity actually like? Did the Nobel feel earned or inherited?

1945 Event

Appointed head of France's atomic energy commission by de Gaulle. Built France's first nuclear reactor. Then joined the Communist Party, which made everything complicated.

How did you reconcile building a reactor and joining the Communist Party? Did de Gaulle trust you?

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