September 11, 1907 – Birth of Alice Leigh-Smith, the first British woman to earn a PhD in nuclear physics

In addition, she is remembered for her pioneering cancer research and attempts to discover element 85 of the periodic table.

In 1932, at the age of 25, she began working at the Radium Institute in Paris (France) under the tutelage of Marie Curie, and, a year later, she married Philip Leigh-Smith, a British diplomat and son of the Arctic explorer Benjamin Leigh-Smith.

In 1935, she became the first woman in Britain to receive a PhD in nuclear physics, and, from 1936, he conducted cancer research as part of the British Empire Cancer Campaign.

In 1942, together with a Swiss chemist, Walter Minder, they announced the discovery of periodic table element 85 (now known as astatine) and proposed the name anglohelvetium. Later it was verified that they had not discovered it since their results were not replicable.

If you want to know more about this scientist, click on the following link: Alice Leigh-Smith