Madeleine M. Joullié

Madeleine M. Joullié (born March 29, 1927) is an American-Brazilian organic chemist. She was the first woman to join the University of Pennsylvania chemistry faculty as well as the first female organic chemist to be appointed to a tenure track position in a major American university. She was one of the first affirmative action officers at the University of Pennsylvania. She has a distinguished record as a teacher of both undergraduate and graduate-level organic chemistry, and as a mentor of students. Joullié has received numerous awards, including the 1978 Garvan Medal from the American Chemical Society, in recognition of her accomplishments in teaching and research. She earned an M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1950 and a Ph.D. in 1953. She worked with Allan R. Day, who inspired Joullié as both a researcher and a teacher.

Also at the university, Joullié met Richard E. Prange (1932–2008), a condensed matter theorist in the physics department. They married in 1959. Joullié became a full professor in 1974.

In 1970, Joullié and Mildred Cohn worked on the Committee on the Status of Women, which gathered data and documented the second-class status of women at Penn. The percentage of women holding faculty positions was far below the percentage of qualified women Ph.D.'s, and those women who had positions held lower rank, received lower salaries, and waited longer for promotion. Joullié also helped the American Chemical Society to develop professional guidelines for chemists. Joullié has produced several didemnin analogs. She has also developed probe molecules that can trace didemnins, allowing researchers to more effectively study their biological activities. Like ninhydrins, indanediones react with amino acids from the oil on people's fingertips. Indanediones are standardly used in the first stage of forensic identification of latent fingerprints.

Awards Madeleine M. Joullié has received a substantial number of awards, including the following: John Scott Medal (2015) Edward Leete Award (2009) Arthur C. Cope Senior Scholar Award (2002) from the American Chemical Society Distinguished Achievement Award University of Pennsylvania Graduate Student Associate and Phi Lambda Upsilon (1999) ACS Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences (1998) H. Martin Friedmann Lectureship, Rutgers University (1995) Henry Hill Award (1994) Philadelphia Organic Chemist's Club Award (1994) Second Annual Association of American Women in Science, Philadelphia Chapter Award (1991) Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching (1991) American Institute of Chemists 34th Annual Scroll Award (1988) American Cyanamid Faculty Award (1984) Garvan Medal (1978)