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Marguerite Perey
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<p>Marguerite Catherine Perey (19 October 1909 – 13 May 1975) was a French <a href="/facts/Physicist/cQcgvSIm">physicist</a> and a student of <a href="/facts/Marie_Curie/EGjeuJ14">Marie Curie</a>. In 1939, Perey discovered the element <a href="/facts/Francium/P3Rz4gDP">francium</a> by purifying samples of <a href="/facts/Lanthanum/Uhmmy1sB">lanthanum</a> that contained <a href="/facts/Actinium/GMQtJ4Gm">actinium</a>. In 1962, she was the first woman to be elected to the French <a href="/facts/Acad%C3%A9mie_des_Sciences/zF42DYQv">Académie des Sciences</a>, an honor denied to her mentor Curie. Perey died of cancer in 1975. </p>