User:SuspiciousRedPanda/Lucia de Brouckère

Lucia de Brouckère (Brussels, 13 July 1904 - Brussels, 3 November 1982) was a Belgian chemist and the first woman to receive an academic appointment at a Belgian Faculty of Sciences (1937).

Early Life
She was the daughter of socialist politician Louis de Brouckère and was a scion of the noble de Brouckère family. During World War I, her family lived in Great Britain. Lucia attended primary and secondary education in England. Afterwards, she studied chemistry at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and obtained a doctorate (1927). The title of her doctoral thesis was: L'absorption des électrolytes par les surfaces crystallines. This thesis was awarded a prize of merit by the Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-arts in Brussels.

Carreer
In her academic career at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, she became successively assistant in the chemistry laboratory (1927-1933), work leader (1933-1937), lecturer (1937-1945) and professor (1945-1974). She was the first woman to receive an academic appointment in a Belgian Faculty of Sciences. During World War II, she lived in exile in London. She worked there for the Belgian government-in-exile, during which time she became administratively responsible for the chemical industry in Belgium. After the war, Professor de Brouckère rewrote the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. The subject General Chemistry was rewritten and she herself had teaching assignments in general chemistry, analytical chemistry and physical chemistry. She was particularly committed to the didactics of chemistry education; she wrote several textbooks for chemistry teachers and was personally involved in the practical professional training of chemistry teachers. To this end, she invited foreign chemists to Brussels. She also founded the Jeunesses scientifiques de Belgique, in which she addressed young students and made them enthusiastic about chemical research.

De Brouckère emerged as an advocate of liberality, democratic thought and women's rights. For instance, she chaired the Comité mondial des femmes contre la guerre et le fascisme, and in Belgium she was a member of the Centre d'Action Laïque. Then, in 1968, she served on the university's reform committee, following the student riots. She retired in 1974 and died a few years later (1982).

Her name lives on even today in the new name for the merged Walloon-Brussels colleges: the Haute École Lucia de Brouckère