Upcoming DEI seminars on October 3 and 18: two sessions looking at the historical role of women in science

In line with the Institut Pasteur’s efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the DEI community is pleased to invite you to the upcoming DEI seminars on October 3 and 18. These two events will be an opportunity to look at the role of women in science from a historical perspective.

•    "From student to scientist: Marie Curie and the others"

This session will take place on Thursday October 3 at 2pm in the Jules Bordet room (Metchnikoff building, ground floor) and viaTeams.

Guest speaker: Natalie Pigeard-Micault. Deputy Director of the Musée Curie. UAR6425 Musée Curie

At a glance: Marie Curie did not become an iconic historical figure for nothing. Among other achievements, she was a double Nobel Prize laureate and the first female university professor in France. Based on her story, which is not always accurately told, we have created a national icon that has come to represent the only possible version of a female scientist.
But Marie Curie was far from the only female scientist of her time. Although barely one or two women attended the lecture halls of the Paris Faculty of Sciences in the early 1870s, women represented nearly a third of the student population by 1930. How did science become a more female field? Do these women have the same profile as the icon, Marie Curie?
Comparing the story of Curie and Joliot-Curie or other scientists from the time gives us a better idea of the influence of the cultural and economic context on these women's careers and also an understanding of how history has excluded these women.

 

•  "Female Pasteurians: out of the shadows"

This event will take place on Friday October 18 at 2pm in the Jules Bordet room (Metchnikoff building, ground floor) and via Teams.

Guest speaker: Sandra Legout (CERIS, Institut Pasteur)
 

At a glance: Since the Institut Pasteur was founded 135 years ago, it has always had women scientists. Initially "helpers" and then assistants aiding with lab preparation, they slowly carved out their role in the Institut Pasteur's research landscape until they came to head units and departments. From 1889 to 1970, through a selection of profiles, this is a tribute to the forgotten women in the Institut Pasteur's history, whose careers and scientific output are just as impressive as those of their male counterparts.

 

Photo : Suzanne Ledebt (1887-1968) vers 1912. Surnommée par Maurice Nicolle « Uranie » ou « Soeur Sainte-Pipette », Suzanne Petit-Dutaillis née Ledebt est préparatrice puis assistante dans le laboratoire de physiologie de Camille Delezenne de 1907 à 1932. Institut Pasteur/Archives Laboratoire de photomicrographie.