Editing Irène Joliot-Curie (section)

===Research===
[[File:Irene and Marie Curie 1925.jpg|left|thumb|Irène and [[Marie Curie]] in 1925]]

As she neared the end of her doctorate in 1924, Irène Curie was asked to teach the precision laboratory techniques required for radiochemical research to the young chemical engineer [[Frédéric Joliot]], whom she would later wed. From 1928 Joliot-Curie and her husband Frédéric combined their research efforts on the study of atomic nuclei.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Devotion to Their Science: Pioneer Women of Radioactivity|last=Rayner-Canham|first=Marelene and Geoffrey|publisher=MQUP|year=1997|isbn=0941901157|pages=97–123}}</ref> In 1932, Joliot-Curie and her husband Frédéric had full access to Marie's polonium. Experiments were done using gamma rays to identify the [[positron]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Irène Joliot-Curie.|last=Hicks|first=Jennifer|publisher=Great Neck Publishing|year=2006|isbn=9781429808248|pages=1–2}}</ref> Though their experiments identified both the [[positron]] and the [[neutron]], they failed to interpret the significance of the results and the discoveries were later claimed by [[Carl David Anderson]] and [[James Chadwick]] respectively.<ref name=":0" /> These discoveries would have secured greatness indeed, as together with [[J. J. Thomson]]'s discovery of the [[electron]] in 1897, they finally replaced [[John Dalton]]'s [[Atomic theory#Dalton's law of multiple proportions|model]] of atoms as solid spherical particles.{{cn|date=September 2020}}

However, in 1933, Joliot-Curie and her husband were the first to calculate the accurate mass of the neutron.<ref name=":0" /> The Joliot-Curies continued trying to get their name into the scientific community; in doing so they developed a new theory from an interesting experiment they conducted. During an experiment bombarding aluminium with alpha rays, they discovered that only protons were detected. Based on the undetectable electron and positron pair, they proposed that the protons changed into neutrons and positrons.<ref name=":0" /> Later in October 1933, this new theory was presented to the Seventh [[Solvay Conference]]. The Solvay Conferences consisted of prominent scientists in the physics and chemistry community.<ref name=":0" /> Irene and her husband presented their theory and results to their fellow scientists, but they received criticism of their finding from most of the 46 scientists attending.<ref name=":0" /> However they were able to build on the controversial theory later on.{{cn|date=September 2020}}

[[File:Irène Joliot-Curie Harcourt.jpg|left|thumb|Curie, {{circa}} 1920s]]

In 1934, the Joliot-Curies finally made the discovery that sealed their place in scientific history. Building on the work of Marie and Pierre Curie, who had isolated naturally occurring radioactive elements, the Joliot-Curies realised the alchemist's dream of turning one element into another: creating radioactive [[nitrogen]] from [[boron]], radioactive isotopes of [[phosphorus]] from aluminium, and [[silicon]] from [[magnesium]]. Irradiating the natural stable isotope of aluminium with [[alpha particles]] (i.e. helium nuclei) resulted in an [[Isotopes of phosphorus|unstable isotope of phosphorus]]: <sup>27</sup>Al + <sup>4</sup>He → <sup>30</sup>P + <sup>1</sup>n.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1935/joliot-curie-lecture.html|title=Nobel Lecture: Artificial Production of Radioactive Elements|date=12 December 1935|author=Irène Joliot-Curie}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/joliot-fred-lecture.pdf|title=Chemical Evidence of the Transmutation of Elements|date=12 December 1935|author=Frédéric Joliot|author-link=Frédéric Joliot-Curie}}</ref><ref name="cwp ucla">{{cite web|url=http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/Phase2/Joliot-Curie,_Irene@841891460.html|publisher=[[Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics|CWP]]|author=Byers |author2=Moszkowski |title=Irène Joliot-Curie Contributions and Bibliography}}</ref> This phosporus isotope is not found in nature and decays emitting a positron. This discovery is formally known as [[positron emission]] or [[beta decay]], where a proton in the radioactive nucleus changes to a neutron and releases a positron and an electron neutrino. By then, the application of radioactive materials for use in medicine was growing and this discovery allowed radioactive materials to be created quickly, cheaply, and plentifully. The Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1935 brought with it fame and recognition from the scientific community and Joliot-Curie was awarded a professorship at the Faculty of Science.

The work that Irène's laboratory pioneered, research into radium nuclei, would also help another group of physicists within Germany. [[Otto Hahn]] and [[Fritz Strassman]] on 19 December 1938 bombarded uranium with neutrons, but misinterpreted their findings. [[Lise Meitner]] and Otto Frisch would theoretically correct Hahn and Strassmann's findings, and after replicating their experiment based on Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard's theory that he had confided to Meitner back in 1933, confirmed on 13 January 1939 that Hahn and Strassmann had indeed observed [[nuclear fission]]: the splitting of the nucleus itself, emitting vast amounts of energy. Lise Meitner's now-famous calculations actually disproved Irène's results and proved that nuclear fission was possible and replicable.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederic-and-Irene-Joliot-Curie|title=Frederic and Irene Joliot-Curie|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>

In 1948, using work on nuclear fission, the Joliot-Curies along with other scientists created the first French nuclear reactor.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> The Joliot-Curies were a part of the organization in charge of the project, the Atomic Energy Commission, ''[[Commissariat à l'énergie atomique]]'' (CEA). Irène was the commissioner of the CEA and Irène's husband, Frédéric, was the director of the CEA.<ref name=":0" /> The reactor, [[Zoé (reactor)|Zoé]] (Zéro énergie Oxyde et Eau lourde) used nuclear fission to generate five kilowatts of power.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> This was the beginning of nuclear energy as a source of power for France.

Years of working so closely with radioactive materials finally caught up with Joliot-Curie and she was diagnosed with [[leukemia]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=McGrayne |first=Sharon Bertsch |title=Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries |publisher=Joseph Henry Press. |year=1998 |isbn=9780309072700 |location=Washington, DC |pages=117–143}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> She had been accidentally exposed to [[polonium]] when a sealed capsule of the element exploded on her laboratory bench in 1946.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zielinski |first=Sarah |last2= |first2= |date=2011-10-03 |title=Six Secrets of Polonium |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/six-secrets-of-polonium-94821613/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528101648/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/six-secrets-of-polonium-94821613/ |archive-date=2023-05-28 |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> Treatment with antibiotics and a series of operations relieved her suffering temporarily but her condition continued to deteriorate. Despite this, Joliot-Curie continued to work and in 1955 drew up plans for new physics laboratories at the [[Paris-Saclay Faculty of Sciences|Orsay Faculty of Sciences]], which is now a part of the [[Paris-Saclay University]], south of Paris.{{cn|date=September 2020}}