Interview Dusoulier (2000) Rayward/CNRS

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Education and Early Career

Rayward

Please tell me about your family background and your education.

Dusoulier

I was born in Nice, France, to Russian parents. I attended school in Nice.

Educational path

I studied pharmacology in Marseilles and earned my Ph.D. in pharmacology in Paris. While in Paris, I also studied other related subjects such as biology, serology, and virology at Institut Pasteur.

I decided to study business administration because of my husband. He has a Ph.D. in political science and a diploma in engineering. I received a diploma in business administration when it began in France—during the first year, but I was not very good because law did not interest me much. I was selected because there were not many scientists studying that. There was only one pharmacologist and one veterinarian.

Rayward

Were you the only woman in the program?

Dusoulier

No, there were other women.

Rayward

When was this?

Dusoulier

Around 1960.

I studied supplementary diplômes (diplomas) in the pharmaceutical industry in order to work in industry; I didn’t want to work in a pharmacy.

Car Accident

At the end of 1960, I was in a car accident, and stayed in bed for about a year. After that, the doctor said that I could not work standing up for at least three or four years, so I had to find a new job. I had been working in pharmacy doing biological analysis. I didn’t even know what other jobs I was qualified for that wouldn’t require standing.

Just before my accident, I had found a job at the Laboratoire de la Grange, a pharmaceutical laboratory for the control of drugs. Today, I don’t think the subject is that interesting, but, at the time, I was happy there. Then came the accident, which was just terrible.

My husband and I were in the car with our three children.

Rayward

Were they hurt as well?

Dusoulier

Not really. My husband was hurt; he was pinned in. I was thrown out of the car.

I decided to put an advertisement in Le Monde stating, “Doctor of pharmacy with these diplômes, knowing French, English, German, Russian, and Spanish, would like to find a job that doesn’t require standing.”

Employment at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Dusoulier

At first, I did not receive a thing. Then, after two weeks, I received a letter from CNRS

[Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique] stating that they wanted me to analyze, abstract, and index Russian and German journals in pharmacology, biochemistry, and biophysics. I thought, “That’s stupid.” [laughter] “I could never do that kind of job.” But I decided to go and see what it was like anyway. When I arrived at CNRS headquarters, I was horrified! The main office was a large room with people sitting around at desks, as if they were in a classroom. These were people with Ph.D.s and master’s degrees in various disciplines. They told me, “Oh, we want you, absolutely.” They asked me to do some corrections to a manuscript—correct the mistakes. I had never done that before, but I must have done well because they were very happy with that stupid work. [laughter] Then they said, “We want you to start next week.” I responded that I couldn’t because my husband was traveling for his work and I wanted to talk it over with him first. But they said, “If you don’t like it, just leave. No obligation. Your contract will be processed, but that takes two or three months—don’t worry.” So, I gave in and started working there. As it turns out, it was, in fact, quite interesting. The work was slightly difficult. I knew Russian, but they gave me Bulgarian, Polish, and many Czech-related languages. I told them, “I know Russian, not Ukrainian or any of these other ones.” They answered, “Yes, but if you cannot do it, who can?” So I tried and I ended up doing that for a little more than a year.

Rayward

Were you preparing abstracts?

Dusoulier

I was preparing abstracts and creating indexes or the index matière (subject

index). I told myself, “All right, I’ll do this for a while, recover, and then try to do something else.” At that time, Jean Wyart was director of CDST [Centre de Documentation Scientifique et Technique]. His deputy was a high-level, Spanish researcher.