Irène Joliot-Curie
She, along with her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie, discovered artificial radioactivity.
Most quoted
"We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for humanity."
— from Biography
"We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like radium, a benefit for humanity."
— from Nobel Lecture, 'Artificial Production of Radioactive Elements', 1935
"Humanity needs practical men, who get the most out of their work, and, without forgetting the general good, safeguard their own interests. But humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is so captivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit."
— from Likely derived from Marie Curie
All quotes by Irène Joliot-Curie (405)
The beauty of the crystalline structures of chemicals is a poetry understood by the mind.
To work with my husband, Frédéric, was the greatest joy of my scientific life.
There are no impossible experiments, only experiments not yet tried.
The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
Science, when it is fully understood, is neither pessimistic nor optimistic; it is simply true.
Contemporaries of Irène Joliot-Curie
Other Chemistrys born within 50 years of Irène Joliot-Curie (1897–1956).