Germaine Benoit

Germaine Benoit (9 October 1901 – April 1983) was a French chemical engineer, pharmacologist and biologist, best known for her contributions to the study of sympathomimetic drugs.

Early life Benoit was born on 9 October 1901 in Paris. She was an only child, and lost her father, a German teacher, in her teens, as he disappeared during the First World War.

Education In 1918 and 1919, she earned two baccalaureates and the following year, gained her certificate in physics, chemistry and natural sciences (PCN), in preparation for medical studies. She then enrolled at the Institut de chimie appliquée, the future École nationale supérieure de chimie, where she studied for three years. She graduated in chemical engineering in 1923. Between 1922 and 1936 she earned five scientific degrees, in chemistry and biology. She continued to work in the medical chemistry department, and was appointed head of the laboratory in 1943. In 1947, she was made a Knight of the Légion d'honneur.

In 1960, Benoit was recruited by Daniel Bovet to work at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome. The couple were friends with Jacques Monod. 1935: Étude chimique et physiologique d'amines à fonction éthylénique et de diamines, Bulletin des sciences pharmacologiques, vol.42, Nr. 1 und 2, Januar und Februar 1935, S. 34–43 und 102–109, with Rudolf Herzog. 1938: Synthèse et étude pharmacologique de quelques dérivés hétérocycliques voisins de l'amino-méthylbenzodioxane, Bull. sc. pharmacol., vol.45, Nr. 3, März 1938, S. 97–107, mit D. Bovet. 1942: Préparation et propriétés physiologiques de quelques hydroxy-alcoyl-hydrazines... Thèses présentées à la Faculté des sciences de l'Université de Paris pour obtenir le grade de docteur ès sciences physiques par Germaine Benoit.