Brèves
Mohamed-Lamine DEBAGHINE
The authentic symbol of the Algerian revolution, a man with vigorous character and golden values, Al-Mujahid Mohamed- Lamine DEBAGHINE has always been glorified for having fought heart, body and soul to finally witness the Algerian flag fluttering freely.
Born on January 24th, 1917 in Cherchell, he grew up eager to receive a wide education in his mother tongue. Determined to be an effective member of the society, he joined medical school and had a successful path during which he became a member of the NAMSA( North African Muslim Students Association) and eventually earned a Doctorate in medicine.
His tendency to be involved in politics drove him to join the PPA( Algerian People’ s Party) in 1939, of which he remained an efficient representative while practicing his job as a doctor in his private practice which he had opened in 1944 in El Eulma – Sétif-. The veteran later joined the MTLD( Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties) and was selected in 1946, to be the deputy of the 2nd district-Constantine-.
Despite being strongly opposed to the fascism of the Dutch and Italian, he firmly refused, on principle, to fight against them for the French army in the Second World War. On August 20th 1947, at The French National Assembly, the MTLD’ s deputies bravely reported the oppression and despotism of the colony. Blessed with great charisma, Mohamed Lamine DEBAGHINE strongly gave a sensational speech in which he fearlessly approved Algeria as an absolute Nation and heroically refused the interruptions of French minister several times by stating undeniable arguments based on historical facts while vehemently shouting for Algeria’ s freedom.
After being arrested on Juin 24th, 1955 by the French colonial authorities and released six months later, he was made an associate of the FLN’ s exterior delegation, a member of the CNRA( Algerian National Revolutionary Council) in Soummam Congress that took place in August 1956 and an important part of the CCE( Coordination and Execution Committee). The warrior was later selected as the First Prime Minister of the GPRA( Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic) in 1958. Soon after Algeria’ s independence, he withdrew himself from politics and carried on his medical profession at his private practice.
Following a brain stoke, death reclaimed our hero at the age of 86 in the bitter day of January 20th 2003 and was buried in a cemetery in Sidi M’ hamed- Algiers. His name is still engraved on top of the portals of Beb El-Oued’ s hospital, formerly known as Maillot’ s military hospital.
“
N’ oubliez pas, Mesdames et Messieurs, l’ Algérie est une Nation. Elle a été une Nation et a été souveraine. Seule l’ agression de 1830 lui a fait perdre sa souveraineté. On a trop tendance à l’ oublier!
”
Discours de Mohamed-Lamine DEBAGHINE en 1947 devant le parlement français.
Pierre and Marie CURIE
Having dedicated their lives to physics, were both honored alongside with a Nobel Prize and together brought to existence luminous children such as themselves, the legendary couple Pierre and Marie Curie are universally renowned for having made a considerable contribution to the progress of science and represent therefore a great source of inspiration for many generations.
Way before their marriage, Pierre and Marie CURIE grew up in two different lands yet shared the same ambitions and became pioneers of radioactivity. Marie CURIE, born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, in Warsaw, Poland on the 7th of November 1867, faced a lot of struggles to become the successful scientist she had always aspired to be. Having been deprived of graduate education like all of the girls of her homeland, the ambitious young student was compelled to work as a governess to earn the money that allowed her to move to Paris and register in the Sorbonne University where she obtained two degrees in both physics and mathematics, and where destiny united her with her colleague and future husband Pierre.
Having gone through financial problems himself, the French physicist had to work as a laboratory instructor in order to finish his research at the faculty and eventually obtained his diploma in physics 1878 and started working at the laboratory of physics jointly with his brother Jacques on Piezoelectricity and Crystallography where he discovered on his own‘’ Curie Point’’. Hypnotized by the brilliance and determination of the Polish physicist, Pierre CURIE decided to end his work on Piezoelectricity and Crystallography and dedicated his research in collaboration with Marie Curie. A partnership that led to the discovery of radium and polonium.
Together, despite the arduousness of the conditions under which they had to work, the couple retained their motivation to finish the work of the French physicist Henri Becquerel on the spontaneous radiation and were afterwards awarded a Nobel Prize in physics in 1903, shared with Becquerel. Three years later, soon after the death of her husband, Marie became the first female professor at the Sorbonne.
In 1910, she proved the undeniable existence of Radium as a pure metal and was honored a year later with a second Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She was hence recognized as the one and only woman to be in the list of the Magnificent Four who received Double Nobel and the second intellect after Pauling whose two Nobel Prizes are in different fields. Following her parent’ s footsteps, Irène JOLIOT-CURIE worked together with her mother to provide mobile X-ray units during World War I. After the war, Irène worked in collaboration with her husband Frédéric JOLIOT in her parent’ s institute and were both awarded a Nobel Prize years later.
Two leading figures internationally acknowledged, Pierre and Marie CURIE have many universities, libraries, avenues and even banknotes, named after them. In Algeria, the oncology department in Mustapha Pacha hospital carries their names( Centre Pierre et Marie CURIE).
50 Printemps 2018
“
It would be a beautiful thing though, a thing I dare not hope, if we could spend our lives near each other, hypnotized by our dreams: your patriotic dream, our humanitarian dream and our scientific dream.
Pierre Curie in his letter to Maria Skłodowska- August 10, 1894.
”