Marguerite Perey

Marguerite Catherine Perey (October 19, 1909 – May 13, 1975) was a French physicist. In 1939, Perey discovered the element francium by purifying samples of lanthanum that contained actinium. In 1962, she was the first woman to be elected to the French Académie des Sciences.

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Publications

• "Sur un element 87, dérivé de l'actinium," Comptes-rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences, 208: 97 (1939).
• "Francium: élément 87," Bulletin de la Société chimique de France 18: 779 (1951).
• "On the Descendants of Actinium K: 87Ac223," Journal de Physique et le Radium17: 545 (1956).

Positions

• 1929-34 Personal assistant (preparateur) to Marie Curie, Institut du Radium.
• 1934-46 Radiochemist, Institut du Radium.
• 1946-49 Maitre de Recherches, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut du Radium.
• 1949- Professeur titulaire de la Chaire de Chimie Nucleaire, Universite de Strasbourg.

Education

• Diplôme d'État de chimiste, École d'enseignement technique féminine, 1929.
• Doctorat des Sciences, Sorbonne 1946.

Honors

• Officier of the Légion d'Honneur 1960
• Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris 1960
• Elected correspondante of the Académie des Sciences (Paris) 1962. First woman to be elected to the Académie since its founding in 1666.
• Lavoisier Prize of the Académie des Sciences 1964
• Silver Medal of the Société Chimique de France 1964
• Commandeur of the Ordre National du Mérite 1974