Museum
Hélène Sparrow, an expert "microbe hunter"
Alongside the "Pasteurian Women" exhibition organized by the CeRIS and the Pasteur Museum and currently on display in the atrium of the François Jacob building, and in connection with International Women's Day, the museum team wanted to share the story of the remarkable microbiologist Hélène Sparrow (1891-1970).
A vocation forged through real-life outbreaks
Hélène Sparrow was born in 1891 in the town of Bohuslav in Ukraine, to Polish parents. She graduated in medicine in Kiev in 1915, during the First World War, and immediately got involved in tackling disease outbreaks in the Russian army, especially typhus, a disease that would become a recurrent focus throughout her career.
In 1921, Hélène Sparrow did something that made the headlines at the time. The famous pediatrician Robert Debré, her admirer and friend, wrote: "She hoped to attenuate the agent responsible [for typhus] (…) and turn the pathogen into a vaccine product as was being attempted by researchers in various laboratories around the world. To verify her hypothesis, Hélène Sparrow injected herself with her own preparation, but the pathogenic agent was not attenuated enough and she became extremely ill. Her terrified friends and family wondered what this illness could be. It was only then that Hélène Sparrow revealed what she had done. She was lucky to survive..." Robert Debré saw this as an episode that clearly demonstrated "Hélène Sparrow's strength of character, providing a more eloquent portrayal than any words of praise."[1]
Applying her scientific excellence to the Institut Pasteur network
Hélène Sparrow's career at the Institut Pasteur began in 1923 with a grant from the League of Nations. She trained in Lille under Albert Calmette (1863-1933) and Camille Guérin (1872-1961) on the first preparations for the BCG, and then in Paris and Strasbourg. In 1924, a meeting with Charles Nicolle (1866-1936), who would go on to win the Nobel Prize in 1928, had a decisive impact – she became his closest colleague and he became her mentor.
Hélène Sparrow's career took her all over the world:
To Poland, where she organized mass vaccination campaigns against scarlet fever, diphtheria and cholera, while also becoming the first female associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Warsaw in 1928.
To Tunisia, where she joined the Institut Pasteur de Tunis as a laboratory head in 1933. She co-developed the "Durand-Sparrow" typhoid vaccine there and took over as head of the (BCG) vaccination department in 1949.
For WHO: even after she had passed retirement age, she continued to be in demand for her expertise. At the age of 67, she set off for Ethiopia to study relapsing fever outbreaks.
A committed member of the resistance
As well as her 103 scientific publications, Hélène Sparrow was a woman of conviction. During the Second World War, as Tunis was coming under heavy bombing, she showed great bravery in housing French refugees, including the writer André Gide (1869-1951), and hiding Polish resistance fighters and deserters.
"A bomb has just fallen on the house of the eminent doctor Sparrow (...). Taken by surprise as she lay in bed with a severe migraine, she had to flee urgently in her pajamas. The bomb burst through into the cellar of the apartment building without exploding. It now needs to be detonated safely, and a cordon of officers is keeping everyone at a safe distance from the houses that have been evacuated (...) We hope that the forced explosion will not do too much damage to Mme Sparrow's apartment. [Thanks to her] I have come through this trying time almost without difficulty." André Gide, Diary 1942-1949, Gallimard
A legacy soon to be immortalized
The woman described by the British Medical Journal as having "scientific brilliance" and "phenomenal energy"[2] continues to inspire new generations. In recognition of her immense contribution to science, her name was proposed and selected by the Femmes & Sciences association to be added to the Eiffel Tower as one of 72 female scientists, a process that should be completed in 2027.
The Institut Pasteur has an archive collection, donated by her daughter in 1994, that tells the story of her illustrious career. A Wikipedia page about her was lengthened and improved in February 2025, following the first Editathon for the Institut Pasteur's women scientists organized with the "les sans pagEs" association.
Pasteurian Women exhibition in the atrium of the François Jacob building
Until the end of March, you can find a profile of Hélène Sparrow in the exhibition organized by the CeRIS and the Pasteur Museum, together with a selection of historical photographs of women who played a role in the Institut Pasteur's history.
Find out more about Hélène Sparrow:
Institut Pasteur ArchivesPresentation by Jean-Charles Foucrier about Hélène Sparrow at the conference "Scientists and citizens: committed to society"
[1] Source : https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/institut-pasteur/notre-histoire/helene-sparrow-chasseuse-microbes
[2] Source : https://www.pasteur.fr/fr/institut-pasteur/notre-histoire/helene-sparrow-chasseuse-microbes
"One of the best-known personalities in international epidemiological circles of the past 25 years." On her death in 1970, her obituary in the British Medical Journal read: "Her scientific brilliance, phenomenal energy and enthusiasm (…) matched her great beauty and enormous charm."