ROBERT DOISNEAU, Irene Joliot-Curie, 1943, 12.5x15" Gelatin silver print, Printed Printed later, Signed in ink on print recto below right of image.

Irene Joliot-Curie (1897-1956) was a French scientist and 1935 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry. While she was not a part of the Manhattan Project, her earlier research was instrumental in the creation of the atomic bomb.

As the daughter of renowned scientists Marie and Pierre Curie, Joliot-Curie developed an early interest in science. During World War I, she worked with her mother at the mobile field hospitals, operating the x-ray machines that her mother developed. Joliot-Curie then returned to Paris to study chemistry at her parent's Radium Institute where she wrote her doctoral thesis about radiation emitted by polonium. The same year, her future husband Frederic Joliot joined the Radium Institute. Like her parents, they decided to conduct research jointly.

In 1933, the Joliot-Curies made the discovery that radioactive elements can be artificially produced from stable elements. This was done by exposing aluminum foil to alpha particles. When the radioactive source was removed, the Joliot-Curies discovered that the aluminum had become radioactive. This was the research that earned them a Nobel Prize. This discovery had a significant impact and spurred research into radioisotopes and the practical applications of radiochemistry, especially in medicine. For example, researchers discovered isotopes such as a radioactive form of iodine, which was consequently used to treat thyroid diseases. Because the Joliot-Curies' discovery proved that radioactive isotopes could be made relatively inexpensively, the difficult task of separating naturally occurring radioactive isotopes from their ores was no longer necessary.

During World War II, Joliot-Curie spent time in Switzerland recovering from tuberculosis. She visited her family in occupied France until finally bringing her children with her to Switzerland in 1944. Two years later, she was named the director of the Radium Institute. At the age of 59, Joliot-Curie died of leukemia caused by years of radiation exposure.

CREDIT: https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/irene-joliot-curie

Born in Paris, Robert Doisneau initially studied engraving and lithography until he took up photography in 1929. Doisneau first worked with an advertising photographer, where he learned most of his technique. In the early 1930s Doisneau enlisted in the French army, and later worked for five years as an advertising photographer for Renault. During World War II, Doisneau served in the army once again. After the fall of France, Doisneau worked as a forger for the Resistance and made picture postcards to help support his family.

Inspired by the splendid photographs of Paris at night by Brassaï, Doisneau was convinced to take his photographic skills to the streets of his beloved city. He became well known for his photographs of the liberation of Paris in 1944. Doisneau was soon publishing many of his images in American and French magazines. After World War II, Doisneau became a photojournalist for several Parisian photo agencies. His work has been featured in magazines such as Vogue and LIFE. During the 1960s and 1970s, Doisneau turned to mostly advertising and commercial photography and published a series of photography books for children.

Doisneau specialized in capturing the true spirit of Parisian life. His many images feature subjects like children at play, smoky Parisian cabarets, and couples frolicking. He has also taken many portraits of celebrities in France, including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Jacques Tati. Doisneau's work can be found in museums and collections worldwide.

CREDIT: https://www.peterfetterman.com/artists/82-robert-doisneau/biography/

Excellent. Minor wear.