Born: 23 November 1905, France
Died: 8 October 1982
Country most active: France
Also known as: NA
The following was written by Nina Baker and is excerpted from the book From Alchemy to Transport Phenomena: A Global History of Women in Chemical Engineering.
Marcelle Lafont (1905-1982) was a chemical engineer, resistance fighter and French politician. Her family owned the Adolphe Lafont textiles company, and she gained her degree in chemical engineering from l’Ecole de Chimie de Lyon (1930). Rather than go straight into the family firm she worked first for the Bertholus tile stencilling factory in Caluire before returning the Lafont’s dyeing department. In 1935 she became a ‘private municipal councillor’ and her numerous actions in the Second World War earned her the Resistance Medal.