Pauline Ramart

Pauline Ramart (22 November 1880 – 17 March 1953) was a French chemist and a politician. She was the second woman to be appointed as a full professor at the University of Paris, after Marie Curie.^[1]

Born on 22 November 1880 in Paris, Pauline Ramart was the daughter of blacksmith René Lucas and his wife Marie Perrine Ceniguar. To support her studies, she sold artificial flowers. Determined to study, she enrolled in evening classes. She earned her secondary school diploma, and took English lessons from a pharmacist, who identified her interest in chemistry. At the age of 29, she obtained a licence in physical sciences.^[2]

Ramart started her professional career in the laboratory of Albin Haller at the Faculty of Sciences in Paris. She then became a trainer at the Pasteur Institute. In 1913 she obtained her doctorate in organic chemistry on the "synthesis of alcohols" from the University of Paris, Sorbonne under the supervision of Haller.^[1]

After completing long years of service at the Pasteur Institute, in 1925, Ramart became a lecturer at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Paris, with the support of atomic physicist Jean Perrin.^[3][1] In 1930 she became the second woman to be appointed as a full professor at the University of Paris. The first was Marie Curie.^[4][5]

At the start of World War II, Ramart was research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, where she studied the link between UV spectra and chemical reactions for radiology. She received several scientific awards for her work. In 1941, she was dismissed from the Faculty of Sciences by the collaborationist Vichy regime because she was a woman. She then joined the French Resistance.

Ramart was the chair of organic chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences in Paris from 1944 until her death in 1953. A feminist, she was elected to the Free France Provisional Consultative Assembly in 1944, where she campaigned for women's suffrage during her term as the vice-president of the National Education section of the Provisional Consultative Assembly.^[4] Women did not receive the right vote in France until 1944,^[6] although Marie Denizard had stood unsuccessfully in a Presidential election in 1913.^[7]

Ramart received several awards and recognition for her contributions to science, including the France’s Legion of Honor, and the Ellen H. Richards Research Prize from the American Association of University Women.^[8][3]

Ramart died in Paris on 17 March 1953.^[1]

In 2026, Ramart 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.^{[9][10][11][12]}