The Institutes for Physics and for Chemistry to the rescue of women?

Hortense Van Risseghem, Alice Lacourt et Jeanne Cornet

Hortense Van Risseghem, Alice Lacourt and Jeanne Cornet, chemists at the Université libre de Bruxelles, were looking for financial support. They were supported in their endeavours by ULB professors closely associated with the board of directors of the International Solvay Institute for Chemistry (Georges Chavanne, Henri Wuyts, etc.).

Hortense Van Risseghem worked in the general chemistry laboratory directed by Georges Chavanne at the Université libre de Bruxelles. In 1926, she asked the board of directors for a subsidy. As the letter of thanks sent on 1 December 1926 by Hortense Van Risseghem attests, she was indeed granted this subsidy.

Alice Lacourt was a specialist in analytical chemistry at the Université libre de Bruxelles. In 1929, she submitted an application (supported by Henri Wuyts) for a subsidy of 5,000 Belgian francs (around 151,410 Belgian francs or 3,750 euros in 2017). She exceptionally received part of this in 1935, as she had been greatly appreciated as secretary at previous Conferences (a secretary post for which she had already received remuneration). With the aid of this subsidy, Alice Lacourt undertook training in microchemistry at the laboratory of Graz and Vienna in Austria. There she gained a certificate attesting to her newly acquired skills.

Jeanne Cornet, a young doctor of chemistry and the wife of Louis Henry, applied for a grant for Yale, in the United States, where she accompanied her husband, who was taking a post-doctoral degree there. She received no grant from the National Research Foundation (FNRS) or the CRB Educational Foundation. In 1933, she therefore applied for assistance to the tune of 5,000 Belgian francs.

Alice Lacourt and Jeanne Cornet each received 2,500 Belgian francs in 1935 (around 75,705 Belgian francs or 1,875 euros in 2017). The value of the subsidy received by Hortense Van Risseghem is not known.