Hélène Langevin-Joliot


Hélène Langevin-Joliot is a French nuclear physicist. She was educated at the IN2P3 at Orsay, a laboratory which was set up by her parents Irène Joliot-Curie and Frédéric Joliot-Curie. She is a member of the French government's advisory committee. Currently, she is a professor of nuclear physics at the Institute of Nuclear Physics at the University of Paris and a director of research at the CNRS. She is also known for her work in actively encouraging women to pursue careers in scientific fields.
She is chairperson of the panel that awards the Marie Curie Excellence award, a prize given to outstanding European researchers.
She was president of the French Rationalist Union from 2004 to 2012.

Family

Langevin-Joliot comes from a family of well-known scientists.
In response to her family's legacy, Langevin-Joliot regularly grants interviews and gives talks about their history.
Her knowledge of her family's history led to her writing the introduction to Radiation and Modern Life: Fulfilling Marie Curie's Dream, including a brief history of the Curies.
Her husband, Michel Langevin, was grandson of the famous physicist Paul Langevin and was also a nuclear physicist at the institute; her son, Yves , is an astrophysicist.