Frédéric Joliot-Curie

It’s the birthday of Frédéric Joliot-Curie, who was born in 1900 in Paris, France. Trained as a chemist, Joliot assisted Marie Curie in her work at the Radium Institute. There, he met Curie’s daughter, Irène. They married in 1926, changed their surnames to Joliot-Curie and began collaborating together. Their discovery that bombarding stable nuclei with alpha particles induced the nuclei to become radioactive earned them the 1935 Nobel chemistry prize. The Joliot-Curies were studying nuclear fission when Germany invaded France in May 1940. Frédéric was able to have his lab notes smuggled to Britain. He remained in Paris and joined the resistance. After the war, he became France’s first high commissioner for atomic energy and oversaw the construction of France’s first nuclear reactor in 1948.

Date in History: 19 March 1900