Germaine Benoit (9 October 1901 – April 1983)[1] was a French chemical engineer, pharmacologist and biologist, best known for her contributions to the study of sympathomimetic drugs.
[2][3] 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.
[1] On 1 June 1924, Benoit joined the Pasteur Institute as an assistant in the medicinal chemistry laboratory directed by Ernest Fourneau.
Ten years later, in 1934, she received the Prix Louis from the Académie de Médecine for her research on sympathomimetic drugs.
[1] During that time, she was part of the first major advances in the fight against sleeping sickness and malaria through her significant chemical engineering contributions to the discovery and development of drugs such as orsanine and rhodoquine.