Marie Pasteur,

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Laurent (15 January 1826 in

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

– 28 September 1910 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

), was the scientific assistant and co-worker of her spouse, the famous French chemist and bacteriologist

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named afte ...

Life

Marie Pasteur was one of the daughters of the Rector of the Strasbourg Academy. She married in Strasbourg 29 May 1849, aged 23, to

, aged 26. Marie worked as a secretary and science writer to her spouse and served as his

amanuensis An amanuensis () is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another, and also refers to a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In one example Eric Fenby ...

. She was his active assistant in his scientific experiments. She worked with him on expanding his first researches, around 1848, on the remarks previously made by Mitscherlich on the different optical properties concerning

polarized light Polarization (also polarisation) is a property applying to transverse waves that specifies the geometrical orientation of the oscillations. In a transverse wave, the direction of the oscillation is perpendicular to the direction of motion of the ...

tartaric acid Tartaric acid is a white, crystalline organic acid that occurs naturally in many fruits, most notably in grapes, but also in bananas, tamarinds, and citrus. Its salt, potassium bitartrate, commonly known as cream of tartar, develops naturally i ...

when it came from natural wines,

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

lees and when it was synthesized in a laboratory. The students and colleagues of Louis Pasteur acknowledged the importance she had for him in his work as his assistant. She grew the silkworms he needed for his experiment with their diseases, and she took care of the children he tried his famous experimental treatment on. She moved with him to his quarters at the Pasteur institute, and continued to live there after his death. It seems that for years afterward, famous crystallographer, physicist and mathematician

Jean Baptiste Biot Jean-Baptiste Biot (; ; 21 April 1774 – 3 February 1862) was a French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who co-discovered the Biot–Savart law of magnetostatics with Félix Savart, established the reality of meteorites, made an early b ...

, Madame Marie Pasteur and Louis' father, Jean Joseph cooperated in providing Louis with moral support. For instance, in a letter by Biot to Louis father: "your son is ours also and we share with Marie all our love for him, too". There was also philosopher Charles Chappuis in this support network around Louis. Their eldest daughter, Jeanne, died from

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

, aged 9, at

Arbois Arbois () is a Commune in France, commune in the Jura (département), Jura Departments of France, department, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region, eastern France. The river Cuisance passes through the town, which centres on ...

. Then, in 1865, 2-year-old Camille also died of typhus, followed by 12-and-a-half-year-old Cécile on 23 May 1866. Only Jean Baptiste and Marie Louise lived to be adults. Jean Baptiste would be a soldier in the Franco-Prussian War between

and

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. Marie Pasteur was buried in the crypt of the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...

References

*''The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives from Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century'' (2 Vol. Set) by

Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie (born 1936) is an American historian of science known especially for her work on the history of women in science. She taught at Oklahoma Baptist University before becoming curator of the History of Science Collections and ...

and

Joy Dorothy Harvey Joy Dorothy Harvey (born 1934) is an American historian of science. Life Harvey gained a PhD from Harvard University in 1983. She has been an associate editor of the Darwin Correspondence Project, and written a biography of Clémence Royer, Dar ...

(eds.), Taylor and Francis, Kindle Edition, (wireless edition), File Size: 2779 KB, Print Length: 1499 pages
The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z by Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie,Joy Dorothy Harvey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasteur, Marie 1826 births 1910 deaths French Roman Catholics Amanuenses