ZHOLIYA-Curie Irene

ZHOLIYA-Curie, Irene (Joliot-Curie, Irц?ne), France (1897-1956). Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1935 (together with F. Joliot).

Born September 12, 1897 in Paris, the eldest daughter of Pierre Curie and Marie Sklodowska-Curie. Marie Curie was the first time, radium, when Irene was one year. Around the same time, Irene's grandfather on the father, Eugene Curie, moved to live in their family. He voluntarily offered his services to the rebels in the revolution of 1848 and helped the Paris Commune in 1871. Now Eugц?ne Curie was the company of his granddaughter, while her mother was busy in the lab. His liberal socialist convictions and secularism had a profound influence in shaping the political views of Irene.

At the age of 10 years, one year before the death of his father, Irene began to engage in a cooperative school organized by his mother and several colleagues, including physicist P. Langevin and Jean Perrin. Two years later she enrolled at the College Sevigny, graduating on the eve of World War. Irene continued her education at the University of Paris (Sorbonne). However, she spent a few months, interrupted his studies, worked as a nurse in a military hospital, helping a mother to do X-ray.

After the war went to work as an assistant researcher of the Institute of radium, which was headed by her mother, and in 1921 began to conduct independent research. Her first experiences were associated with the study of polonium. In 1925, for these studies Irene was awarded the doctorate.

The most significant of it has conducted research began several years later, after 1926, she married her colleague, Frederic Joliot

. The phenomenon of radioactive decay of certain natural elements and the existence of the stable elements of the natural stable (F. Aston, . Nobel, . 1922) and unstable (F. Soddy, . Nobel, . 1921) isotopes, . formed by the decay of radioactive elements indicated the possibility of artificial synthesis of radioactive isotopes of certain elements of the stable isotopes of other,
. In other words, they talked about the discovery of artificial radioactivity. This phenomenon was discovered Frederic Joliot and Irene Joliot-Curie

. Knowledge engineering has helped construct Joliot-sensitive detector with the condensing chamber so, . to capture the penetrating radiation when irradiated by alpha particles element polonium and prepare a sample with an unusually high concentration,
. With this apparatus wife Joliot-Curie discovered that a thin plate of hydrogenous material, located between the irradiated beryllium or boron, and the detector increases the initial radiation is almost twice. Additional experiments showed that this additional radiation is composed of atoms of hydrogen, which is caused by ionizing radiation released by acquiring an extremely high speed. Spouses Joliot-Curie explain the origin of this effect so that the penetrating radiation knocks out individual atoms of hydrogen, giving them a tremendous speed. Researchers do not understand the essence of the process, but held their precise measurements led to the fact that in 1932 James Chadwick (Nobel Prize in Physics, 1935) discovered the neutron - a neutral particle that is included in the atomic nucleus.

In early 1934 the couple Joliot-Curie began a new experiment. Closing the opening of the condensing chamber a thin plate of aluminum foil, they irradiated samples of boron and aluminum alpha radiation. As they expected, while actually emitted positrons, but to their surprise, the emission of positrons and went after it removed the source of polonium.

Thus, Joliot-Curie discovered that some of the samples subjected to analysis of aluminum and boron into new chemical elements. Moreover, these new elements were radioactive: aluminum, absorbing two protons and two neutrons, turning into radioactive phosphorus, and boron - a radioactive isotope of nitrogen. Since these unstable, radioactive elements were not like any of the naturally produced radioactive elements, it was clear that they were created artificially.

The phenomenon is called 'artificial radioactivity'. Joliot-Curie noted that "the expression 'artificial radioactivity' and 'induced radioactivity', often used to describe a new phenomenon, are convenient, but not the exact terms. The essence of the phenomenon is not that the core is artificially made radioactive, and that this nucleus is transformed into another kernel, by its nature unstable - so get radioelement '.

Spouses Joliot-Curie synthesized a number of new radioactive isotopes - radiophosphorus, radioazot, radiokremny etc.. It was the first artificial radioactive isotopes that emit electrons are not as natural radioactive elements, and the positrons.

Chemistry was supposed to give the necessary proofs of properties of these new radioactive isotopes. For example, radiophosphorus formed as follows. Irradiated aluminum foil was dissolved in hydrochloric acid, and the released hydrogen is carefully analyzed. Found that a small part of it has a positron activity (due to the formation of phosphorus hydride, PH3, and which contain radioactive phosphorus-30). Joliot-Curie, and other methods used, and each time during the chemical manipulations were found traces of a radioactive isotope of phosphorus

. Besides, . wife Joliot-Curie fulfilled an important series of works on studying the formation of pairs of oppositely charged particles - the positron and electron-irradiated with gamma-rays, . as well as their annihilation after positron emission by radioactive nuclei at its collision with an electron,
.

In 1935 the couple Zholio_Kyuri won the Nobel Prize 'for the joint implementation by the synthesis of new radioactive elements'. A year later, Irene Zholio_Kyuri became a professor at the Sorbonne, where she lectured from 1932. She retained the position and at the Radium Institute, where he continued to engage in research of radioactivity. In the late 1930 Joliot-Curie, working with uranium, made several important discoveries, and came close to the discovery that, when bombarded with neutrons disintegrated uranium atom

. In 1939, Irene Joliot-Curie, together with the Yugoslav scientist P. Savich found that one of the products resulting from irradiation of uranium with neutrons, a lanthanum - the element with atomic number 57, rather than transuranic element, as previously believed
. That her work has played a big role in the discovery of nuclear fission reaction.

Increasing attention was paid to her political activities and in 1936 for four months was the Assistant Secretary of State for Scientific Research Affairs in the government of Leon Blum (1872-1950). Despite the Nazi occupation of France in 1940, the couple remained in Paris, where Joliot participated in the resistance movement. In 1944, when he went underground, Irene and children fled to Switzerland, where they remained until the liberation of France.

In 1946, Joly-Curie was appointed director of the Institute of Radium. In addition, from 1946 to 1950 she worked in the Atomic Energy Commission of France. Concerned by the problems of social and intellectual progress of women, she was part of the National Committee of the Union of French women and worked at the World Peace Council. By the early 50-ies, her health began to deteriorate, probably as a result of a dose of radioactivity.

High thin woman, famous for their patience and even temper, Irene was very fond of swimming, skiing and walks in the mountains.

She died in Paris on 17 March 1956 from acute leukemia.