On October 18th 2013, Ms. Hélène Langevin-Joliot, together with her brother Mr. Pierre Joliot-Curie, visited Peking University and gave a lecture to share their perspectives on science and life.
Ms. Hélène Langevin-Joliot is the granddaughter of Marie Curie. Her parents, Irène Joliot-Curie and Frédéric Joliot-Curie, were awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935, and her husband, Michel Langevin, was the grandson of Paul Langevin, a famous physicist. This legendary family was awarded a total of 6 Nobel Prizes in three generations. During the lecture, in addition to her views on science, Hélène also shared a lot of anecdotes of her parents and grandparents, especially her granny’s life and scientific achievements.
Hélène had many memories of her granny. Although Marie Curie passed away when she was only 7, an age too young to discuss scientific theories, Hélène could clearly remember the time they spent together. “I was a young girl, and was wandering in the garden. She came from the lab to see me in the garden. Or at the sea, she picked me and we wandered along the sea,” Hélène said. From a granddaughter’s perspective, Marie Curie was not a great female scientist, but a loving granny who held her little hand and slowly strolled with her along the sea in the background of the beautiful sunset, telling her stories. “It was a happy time,” Hélène smiled.
Hélène also said that no matter how busy Marie Curie was with her work, she was happy to be involved in her family life. Marie Curie was often very fatigued after work, as the lab itself was just like a child. which required plenty of attention, leaving her with little time to care for her own children and family. Marie once wrote a letter to her two daughters saying, “I am unhappy because I don’t know what happened with you and it is just like I am on another planet.”
Marie Curie’s decision to devote her life to scientific research was not a hard and bitter one, and Hélène had always refuted those people who said that Marie Curie sacrificed her entire life to science. “She [Marie Curie] did science because she wanted to do, because she loved research. That was of the utmost importance,” Hélène clarified.
Although it may seem like sheer coincidence that the entire family were devoted to research and accomplished huge success, it should be said that it’s the destiny of the legendary family. The children of this family were born with the love for science, thirst for knowledge and eagerness to explore the unknown. Thus, they were destined to plunge into scientific research.
Hélène was convinced that her love for science was influenced by her granny, which was passed indirectly through her parents’ narration. But more direct influences derived from her parents, from how they think and the way they work in their lab. Hélène emphasized that her motivation to be a scientist was due to her love for and interest in science, which should not be deemed unselfish sacrifice or sacred devotion.
Researching in the lab brought great enjoyment to Hélène and her family. Despite work taking up a lot of time, Hélène and Pierre made sure to spend time with their parents, either to discuss scientific problems or simply enjoy the feeling of being together. “We were very often together”, Hélène said, though it also depended on the time periods, “because some period had lots of work. But we always spent time together in vacation.”
Hélène’s parents, Irène and Frédéric loved life very much. When Hélène was young, the family went fishing, read literature and went to theatre together. They traveled a lot with their children. It was difficult to travel at that time, so they had to spend a lot of time on the road, but they still got time off to enjoy their vacation. The black-and-white photograph that Hélène showed was taken when they were on vacation in Italy. Hélène’s parents sat on a bench facing each other, Hélène was looking at some small items in fascination and Pierre was crawling on his father’s arm. It was a lovely picture, and a reminder of the good old days. Hélène also remarked that with long distance traveling being much more convenient these days, people ended up busily traveling here and there, forgetting that it would be better to just stay together for some time. “It’s good to stay some time,” Hélène said in reminiscence of the happy times.
Hélène’s strong interest and talent in sports was also inherited from her parents. “My brother said I was good at school. That was true. But I was good in every aspect, mathematic and also gymnastic,” Hélène said proudly. “This was very important for my mother. If I am good in other things but bad in sport, she didn’t like that,” Hélène shared. Although her mother was strict with her, it allowed Hélène to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. Sports constitute a very important pastime for Hélène even till now.
After devoting more than 10 years of her time to nuclear physics, Hélène retired as a nuclear physicist last year. She mentioned that “there is a huge team supporting the research work .The team has a number of people, I don’t think it’s useful for myself to be one more [member]. It’s a good time to stop.”Currently, she is active politically as a member of the French government’s advisory committee. “I now use a large part of my time to be involved in discussions about science and societal problems. Problems like the fear of technology. Problems of risk, the way we are looking at risks.” she shared. She is deeply concerned about these problems, since it is not just the exploration of science that matters, but also how we use it. On the issue of fighting over nuclear power, she expressed her frustrations and said that her expectation has always been that “we need more solidarity than competition”. This peaceful and moderating attitude reflects her love and care for humanity.
Hélène is a very lovely and charming woman who makes it clear that age is nothing but a number. At the end of the lecture, Hélène was soon encircled by many admiring students asking for photos and autographs. She patiently listened to each student’s question, answering them with a friendly smile. Even though Hélène’s assistant was worried that she might be too tired and asked to end the interview, Hélène still insisted that one more question is available.The first impression of her maybe a smart and serious scientist, but a more enduring impression could be a kind granny to everybody.
Written by Guo Danyang
Updated :May 19, 2014
