Suzanne Zélie Pauline Veil (28 April 1886 â 24 February 1956) was a French chemist. Her career combined ground breaking research with industrial applications.
Suzanne Zélie Pauline Veil was born in Paris on 28 April 1886.
Veil was a student of Marie Curie from 1912 to 1918 at the Curie Laboratory at her .
During World War I, Veil trained nurses in radiology methods, ensuring effective radiology services near the front line which enabled medical staff to locate shrapnel in the bodies of wounded soldiers.
Veil went on to join chemist Georges Urbain's laboratory at the ÃÂcole Supérieure de Chimie at the Sorbonne, undertaking her doctorate there.
In 1921, Veil was head of the laboratory at the Faculté des sciences de Paris and collaborated with British chemist and physicist Francis W. Aston, translating his seminal work on isotopes in 1923.
In 1924, Veil won the Cahours Prize and the French Academy of Sciences' Berthelot Medal.
Veil became head of research at the ÃÂcole Pratique des Hautes ÃÂtudes in 1930. She researched into the physical chemistry of metal oxides and their mixtures, demonstrating her interest in inorganic chemistry. She studied metal complexes including nickel, chromium and cobalt, and published on periodic phenomena in chemistry in the 1930s.
Veil was a contributor to the 1948 Manuel de radiologie industrielle (Manual of Industrial Radiology), which opened chemistry up to radiological applications.
Suzanne Veil died in Paris on 24 February 1956.
In 2026, Veil was announced as one of 72 historical women in STEM whose names have been proposed to be added to the 72 men already celebrated on the Eiffel Tower. The plan was announced by the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo following the recommendations of a committee led by Isabelle Vauglin of Femmes et Sciences and Jean-François Martins, representing the operating company which runs the Eiffel Tower.