births
October 19, 1909
Marguerite Perey, French physicist and academic (died 1975)
Marguerite Perey
Marguerite Catherine Perey was a French physicist and a student of Marie Curie. In 1939, Perey discovered the element francium by purifying samples of lanthanum that contained actinium. In 1962, she was the first woman to be elected to the French Académie des Sciences, an honor denied to her mentor Curie. Perey died of cancer in 1975.
October 19
October 19 is the 292nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 73 days remain until the end of the year.