Career
Little is known of Adrienne Brunschvicq's early education but various records confirm that as the widowed Adrienne Weill she was a talented student of Marie Curie from 1936. Curie became her PhD supervisor. In 1940, as a result of the Nazi occupation of France, Weill fled to England where she made herself available to the Free French Forces. She became a resident of Newnham College, Cambridge, and joined Lawrence Bragg at the Cavendish Laboratory where she helped with research on crystallography. There, while giving a lecture on the work of Marie Curie, she met Rosalind Franklin who became a good friend and scientific associate. In particular, at a conference in the autumn of 1946, Weill introduced Franklin to Marcel Mathieu who was responsible for much of the scientific research undertaken in France. As a result, Franklin embarked on a highly successful scientific career in X-ray crystallography.
After the end of the Second World War she helped with the repatriation of French citizens before returning to France herself. There she joined the French navy's laboratories as an engineer, working primarily on various research projects involving special metals. She also took an interest in ancient metals, assisting work in the laboratories of the Louvre Museum.
As a widowed mother with a young daughter, she soon joined the Association française des femmes diplômées des universités (French Association for Women with University Diplomas), first as a board member and conference delegate, later as vice-president.
On 3 June 1979, Adrienne Weill died in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, aged 75.
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