Interview of H&eacute;l&egrave;ne LANGEVIN-JOLIOT, French Physicist and granddaughter of Marie and Pierre CURIE

Brussels

conference

interview

scientific research

International Women's Day (T)

physical sciences

Interview of Hélène LANGEVIN-JOLIOT, French Physicist and granddaughter of Marie and Pierre CURIE

SOUNDBITE (French) H&eacute;l&egrave;ne LANGEVIN-JOLIOT, French nuclear Physicist, on her childhood, interest in sciences and family background. On her choice of nuclear physics as discipline to study and work.

SOUNDBITE (French) H&eacute;l&egrave;ne LANGEVIN-JOLIOT, French nuclear Physicist: There was very few women that tried a scientific career at the time of my grandmother and when we look at those cases, like Maria Skłodowska Curie, you can see they all had support from their families. Marie had it from her father, unfortunately her mother died when she was very young, but her father encouraged her to travel to Paris and study in the university there. And when she met Pierre Curie, it was an immediate encouragement from his side too. So that was the basis for a solid start upon which she has built her career, of course she had excellent aptitudes and she reaffirmed herself thanks to her capacities. She had to fight many obstacles as things were not easy for women at the time, but even so, when a woman demonstrated her capacities, there was always somebody, other than the closest ones, that would help her way.

SOUNDBITE (French) H&eacute;l&egrave;ne LANGEVIN-JOLIOT, French nuclear Physicist: Young women at the time had it difficult, in most countries the universities did not allow them to get in, or, in the case of France, only having a bachelor was giving access to University, and French women did not have access to bachelor degrees, so a foreigner like Marie had more chances in France&rsquo;s universities than French women themselves. (...) Marie was actively welcoming students in their home and also helped to send students abroad for research.

SOUNDBITE (French) H&eacute;l&egrave;ne LANGEVIN-JOLIOT, French nuclear Physicist: Year after year things progressed and obstacles became easier to overcome; that&rsquo;s what I felt at the start of my career. In the 60&rsquo;s things were easier. Then at a certain moment some spaces started to narrow down, and the old idea of women being less capable, intellectually or scientifically, even if wasn&rsquo;t openly declared, kept laying underneath. And there is also some behavioral differences between men and women; for example when you are being offered a responsibility, a woman will always ask herself: do I have the capacity to fulfill this responsibility? A man would rarely ask himself that. Therefore we should not be surprised that there are more men than women in scientific research, even if they would be even numbers in a very first moment. Also, as regards the distribution of tasks at home, even though it is improving, equality is not yet there. (...) I think it is very important that for women trying to pursue a scientific career, to create the conditions so they can have a good balance between family, personal life and work, so they do not feel like walking on a tightrope.

SOUNDBITE (French) H&eacute;l&egrave;ne LANGEVIN-JOLIOT, French nuclear Physicist: On the place of science on the economic choices that are being made by Europe. On the fact that some of the choices are not taking in account the necessary scientific parameters. For example, on energy transition, which is necessary, the process is not being done properly, it is not taking in account the specifics of every country and the result is a total cacophony. Europe needs to rethink it through, we need to go from the current situation to a new one, fighting against climate change but without letting some countries fall in unsustainable situations.

Her advice for young students: if you are passionate about a specific domain, go for it, even if it is not the more supported one or if there is a lot of competition; if on the contrary, there is not a real passion for any discipline, then better to choose one that is not very popular initially, nobody talks about it.. But that has prospects to become popular in the future, that&rsquo;s the good choice to make. Also it is important for students to go and see the labs to compare their idea of what is a discipline and the real laboratory work that it implies; because there are a lot of differences between the idea one has of something and the empiric research.