Jeanne Ferrier


Jeanne Ferrier was a French physicist. She was a pioneer in the field of radiotherapy.

Biography

After earning a dual degree in mathematics and physics from the University of Montpellier, Jeanne Ferrier became a science teacher at a boys' high school in Tarbes.
In 1910, she married her professor, Samuel Lattès, who died in 1918. After becoming a widow for the first time, she moved to Paris and joined Marie Curie's laboratory with the support of a Carnegie grant. There, she conducted research on tissue necrosis induced by radium radiation. Between 1921 and 1929, she carried out scientific research at the Radium Institute.
In 1924, she collaborated with Antoine Lacassagne on the detection and localization of radioactive elements in cells. The method she developed, autoradiography, is considered one of the most significant contributions to biology in the 20th century.
On May 27, 1926, she defended her doctoral thesis titled "Étude, par la méthode d'absorption, du rayonnement du radium et de son rayonnement secondaire", which was later published in the journal "Annales de physique."
Around 1930, health concerns compelled her to cease working with radioactivity. She then joined the Henri Poincaré Institute as an assistant in probability calculations under Émile Borel's guidance, where she worked until her retirement in 1958.

Family

Jeanne Ferrier was first married to Samuel Lattès on August 17, 1910, and became a widow in 1918, with one daughter from this first marriage. In her second marriage, she wed her collaborator, physicist Georges Fournier, on August 31, 1929, with whom she had two children.

Notable works

Jeanne Lattès conducted research in the field of radioactivity, including studies on tissue necrosis caused by radium radiation and the detection of radioactive elements in cells. Some of her notable works include:
  • "Sur les conditions physiques qui accompagnent le phénomène de nécrose produit par les rayons du radium" – Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, 176, 867–869.
  • "Sur quelques valeurs numériques caractérisant les rayons du radium responsables du phénomène de nécrose" – Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, 176, 963–967.
  • "Méthode auto-histo-radiographique pour la détection dans les organes du polonium injecté" – Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, 178, 488–490.
  • "Techniques chimico-physique de détection du polonium injecté dans les organes" – Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, 178, 630–632.
  • "Dosage, dans les différents organes, du polonium injecté dans l'organisme" - Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, 178, 771–773.
  • "Sur l’absorption des rayons β par la matière" – Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, 181, 855–856.
  • "Sur l’absorption des rayons β par la matière" – Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, 181, 1135–1136.
  • "Étude par la méthode d'absorption du rayonnement du radium et de son rayonnement secondaire" – Ann. Phys., Volume 10, Number 6, 1926, 102–182.