Bianca Tchoubar

Bianca Ilyinichna Tchoubar (; 22 October 1910 – 24 April 1990) was a French Ukrainian chemist specialising in reaction mechanisms. In her seminal work with Marc Tiffeneau, she discovered the Tiffeneau–Demjanov rearrangement.

Life

Early years and education Bianca Ilyinichna Tchoubar was born on 22 October 1910 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. Her family were Karaits Jews. Her father, Ilya Tchoubar, was a Kharkiv lawyer closely associated with the local liberal party. To avoid problems resulting from the Russian occupation of Ukraine, in 1920 the parents and their two children, Bianca and her brother Serhiy, were forced to move. They left Ukraine for Paris, travelling via Constantinople and Budapest.

In 1924, at the age of 14, alongside her brother, Tchoubar began her studies at a Russian school in Paris set up by the authorities for immigrant children from Russia. It was there she developed an interest in chemistry thanks to her teacher Catherine Chamié (sometimes recorded as Chamier), a Russian who had worked with Marie and Pierre Curie. Tchoubar later described Chamié as her "mother in chemistry".

During World War II, Tchoubar was involved with the French Resistance; she was a lifelong communist. After the war Tchoubar's friend, Jeanne Lévy, was chosen to open a new medical facility in Paris which is known today as the Fournier Institute. Her thesis was the first research work in France to address organic reaction mechanisms in the light of mesomerism and the formation of charged internediates. which was translated into six languages.

Bianca Tchoubar died on 24 April 1990 in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.

Honours In 2026, Tchoubar 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.

Selected publications .