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?

Artifacts (11)

Deux heures de physique

1930

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L'électron positif

1934

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Radioactivité artificielle

1935

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Liberation of Neutrons in the Nuclear Explosion of Uranium

1939

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Inaugural Speech of Professor Frédéric Joliot-Curie

1952

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Textes choisis

1959

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Oeuvres scientifiques complètes

1961

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Frédéric Joliot-Curie

1965

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La projection de noyaux atomiques par un rayonnement très pénétrant: l'existence du neutron

1932

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The Appeal of M. Frederic Joliot-Curie Against the Use of Bacteriological Weapons

1952

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Comptes rendus: interactions nucléaires aux basses énergies et structure des noyaux. Paris, 7-12 juillet 1958

1959

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