Irène Joliot-Curie (d. 1956)

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Biography

Irène Joliot-Curie was a French chemist and physicist who received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with her husband, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, for their discovery of induced radioactivity. They were the second married couple, after her parents, to win the Nobel Prize, adding to the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. This made the Curies the family with the most Nobel laureates to date.

Timeline

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

1918 Life

Served as a radiographer during World War I at age 17, operating portable X-ray units near the front lines alongside her mother. She earned a military medal for her service.

What drove you to the front lines at 17? Did the military medal mean anything to you?

1935 Event

Won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with her husband Frederic for discovering artificial radioactivity. They'd found that bombarding aluminum with alpha particles created a new radioactive isotope of phosphorus. The Curies became the family with the most Nobel Prizes in history.

What was discovering artificial radioactivity like in the moment? Did the Nobel feel like your own or your parents'?

1936 Event

Appointed undersecretary of state for scientific research in France's Popular Front government. One of the first three women to serve in a French cabinet.

What was it like being one of the first three women in a French cabinet? Did politics feel different from science?

Artifacts (15)

Nobel Lecture: Artificial Production of Radioactive Elements

It is a great honour and a great pleasure to us that the Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded us the Nobel Prize for our work on the synthesis of radio-elements, after having presented it to Pierre...

1935

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Pierre Curie

Biographie émouvante que Marie Curie consacre à son mari, complétée d'une étude rédigée par leur fille, Irène Joliot-Curie, qui porte sur les "Carnets de laboratoire de la découverte du polonium et du...

1996

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Lettres

L'édition originale comprend un cahier hors-texte de 8 pages en noir et blanc, non repris dans la présente édition numérique

2011

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Lettres: Marie Curie et ses filles

Marie Curie a reçu le prix Nobel de physique avec Pierre Curie, en 1903, et le prix Nobel de chimie, en 1911. Lors du décès accidentel de Pierre Curie en 1906, sa fille aînée, Irène, n'a que neuf ans...

2011

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Marie Curie, ma mère

Un témoignage inédit d'Irène Joliot-Curie sur sa mère Marie Curie. Alliant vie familiale, anecdotes privées et recherches scientifiques, voici un document rare et émouvant sur une famille d'exception...

2022

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want to give the impression it was a miserable childhood

at happened where I was. You're almost taught to realize it's not for you." However, in April 1995, he told Details that he did not "want to give the impression it was a miserable childhood". Reznor...

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looked at a lot of places, and this just happened to be the one I liked most

nment Weekly that, despite the notoriety attached to the house, he chose to record there because he "looked at a lot of places, and this just happened to be the one I liked most". He explained that he...

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I saw a whole side of humanity that I didn't know existed. It was decadence on a...

ox box set. He also performed with another of Jourgensen's side projects, Revolting Cocks, in 1990. He said: "I saw a whole side of humanity that I didn't know existed. It was decadence on a new...

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which was a way of staying on tour, mentally. Every night was some ridiculous sc...

ls Like Children (1995) and Antichrist Superstar (1996). "I went right into doing a Manson record", Reznor recalled of the latter, "which was a way of staying on tour, mentally. Every night was some...

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He was a good kid [...] a Boy Scout who loved to skateboard, build model planes,...

He began playing the piano at the age of 12 and showed an early aptitude for music. His grandfather told People in February 1995, "He was a good kid [...] a Boy Scout who loved to skateboard, build...

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He is so focused in everything he does. When that guy waxed the floor, it looked...

Cleveland's Right Track Studio as an assistant engineer and janitor. Studio owner Bart Koster later commented, "He is so focused in everything he does. When that guy waxed the floor, it looked great."...

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I had to make a choice between being friends and having a mediocre career, or br...

tional place, disillusioned." Relations between Reznor and Manson subsequently soured. Manson later said: "I had to make a choice between being friends and having a mediocre career, or breaking things...

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I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while...

ruary 2009, Reznor posted his thoughts about the future of Nine Inch Nails on NIN.com, stating that "I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while." Reznor noted in...

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