Marguerite Catherine Perey do Institut du Radium à Academia Francesa de Ciências: o Frâncio e a Tabela Periódica no Ensino de Química, sob o viés da contribuição feminina

Abstract

This dissertation discusses the women presence in Science, until today not fair and equal, and the lack of stimulus for their participation in the Scientific and Technological area. From a research in History of Science and recent statistics, it was possible to observe that the women exclusion and devaluation in this context comes from historical issues in which they were denied access to scientific education, because the idea that men were able to realize intellectual actives while women should only realize domestic actives was defended. To break away from this idea, considerable changes in scientific and technological area are necessary and, one of the strategies used, is the study of the personal and professional careers of female scientists that contributed to development of these areas. In this sense, the study of the Marguerite Catherine Perey’s (1909-1975) life, French scientist responsible for the isolation and characterization of the chemical element Francium and the first woman to join the French Academy of Science (FAS), is justified. With the main goal of recognizing, valuing and publicizing the women’s participation in Science, in addition to discussing the Periodic Table contributions to the Chemistry Teaching from its history and the female presence, we chose the case study methodology for this work. This methodology allowed us to investigate event within its context of reality, making a broader and more detailed knowledge possible and, for this, we had a bibliographic survey about the women’s participation in Science, the Marguerite Perey’s life, the discovery of Francium, her election to the FAS and the Periodic Table’s history. We obtained access works of primary and secondary origin, like scientific articles, newspapers and magazines publications, notes in laboratory notebooks and weekly FAS reports, which were analyzed in a qualitative way. Throughout this dissertation, it was possible to conclude the importance of Marguerite’s job for Science, more specifically for the Periodic Table, and for the French Academy of Science’s history. Her election was essential for other women to enter and reach higher positions in the institution, as the head of the Chemistry section, a position nowadays occupied by a female French scientist, which reinforces our discussion about the (in)visibility of women in Science.