Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat

Born on 29 December 1923 in Lille, France, Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat is a mathematical physicist who in 1979 became the first woman elected to the French Academy of Sciences. In 1941, Choquet-Bruhat won the silver medal for physics at the Concours General, the most prestigious academic competition for high school students in France. She studied at the École Normale Supérieure and CNRS, earning her doctorate in 1951. She then worked at several institutions, including CNRS, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and the University of Marseille before accepting a professorship in 1960 at the Faculté des Sciences of the University of Paris, where she remained until she retired in 1992. Over her career, Choquet-Bruhat made significant contributions to mathematical physics, particularly in general relativity, supergravity, and gauge theories, and published more than 200 papers. Her two-volume work, Analysis, Manifolds, and Physics, co-written with Cecile DeWitt-Morette, is considered a classic in the field. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985. Among her many honors, she was awarded the 2003 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics and is a member of the French Legion of Honor, having achieved the highest class of Grand Croix in 2008. (Photo credit: Renate Schmid, CC BY-SA 2.0 de )

Date in History: 29 December 1923