Irène Joliot-Curie
2026
Chemist · Physicist · Feminist
As the daughter of renowned scientists, Pierre and Marie Curie, it wasn’t unexpected that their oldest daughter, Irène, would show an academic aptitude. But her natural skills benefited from an unusual school created by Marie and other Sorbonne professors who wanted their children to learn in a radically different setting.
While her mother ensured she had a creative academic education, Irène’s paternal grandfather influenced her convictions. According to her sister, Eve, in her biography of their mother, “Her unyielding pursuit of truth, her anti-clericalism, and her sympathy for party politics all came directly from her grandfather.” However, her commitment to the cause of women’s rights and the equality of men and women, especially in science and academia, most assuredly came from observing the treatment of her mother at the hands of scientific societies and international journalists. As early as 1925, Irène told a reporter, “Men’s and women’s scientific aptitudes are exactly the same.”
She married a fellow scientist, Frédéric Joliot, a chemical engineer. In a rare feminist move for their time, they both hyphenated their names to honor the achievements of her parents. Together, they advanced the Curies’ discovery of naturally occurring radioactive elements to formulate the method of creating them. It was a discovery that would enable the manufacture of those elements quickly and cheaply and secure for them their own Nobel prize.
Irène Joliot-Curie is credited with saying:
"Empowering women in science is crucial for the advancement of society."
Irène received numerous accolades, awards, and memberships. When her stature was elevated by the Nobel Prize in chemistry, she accepted the presidency of several organizations that discussed the rights of women. In a biography, Shelley Emling wrote:
“[Curie] said she believed that the government must guarantee equal rights for men and women, and she urged all women to band together in a common struggle to advance their cause.”
In 1936 she was one of three women appointed to the French cabinet by the newly elected, comparatively feminist and decidedly progressive, Prime Minister of France, despite the fact that women could not yet vote. She only accepted the honor to promote the cause of women in science.
Despite worldwide recognition for her achievements, one honor eluded her, the same one that was denied to her mother. Between 1951 and 1954, she applied to the French Academy of Sciences four times, knowing she would be denied, to highlight organizational sexism. Clearly, they did not share her conviction that “A scientist must be open-minded and willing to challenge existing beliefs.”
Besides speaking at many scientific conventions, she traveled to speak on women’s rights and world peace. In addition to a passion for science, Irène and Frédéric were both actively anti-war. When it became obvious that their discoveries were all too likely to be implemented in war, both Joliot-Curies agreed to place all their documentation on nuclear fission in the vaults of the French Academy of Sciences in 1939. They remained locked away until 1949.
Marie Curie is quoted in Eve’s biography of her as saying, “What I want for women and young girls is a simple family life and some work that will interest them.” Irène spent her life fighting for women’s right to “work that will interest them.”