Great Women of Physics: Great Women of Physics A longer version of this presentation can be found at: http://www.physics.utah.edu/~jui/women_in_physics.html Honors Program Open House Feb 10, 2005 Charlie Jui A retrospective in celebration of the International Year of Physics


Celebration!: Celebration! 2005 Designates “World Year of Physics” by the United Nations Challenge: continuing, and severe under-representation of women and some minorities Time for reflection. Opportunity for Positive Action!!!


Women in Physics Faculty Positions: Women in Physics Faculty Positions Graph shows % of women faculty in physics by country Is there a correlation with religion??? Catholic countries seem to have higher % of women in physics than predominantly Protestant Countries ??? Communist countries? ~1985


The Situation Today: The Situation Today Things have improved and are continuing to improve, but the U.S. still has a long way to go: Still only about 10% faculty members are women Compared to Spain where that fraction is closer to 25% (but only 3% are full professors!)


Explanation?: Explanation? Some explanations were offered by Prof. Giulia Pancheri of INFN-Frascati during a conference in Helsinki, 2003. http://www.lnf.infn.it/theory/pancheri/helsinki_w.pdf At the start of the Age of Enlightenment when science and technology were advancing rapidly, most research work was done or sponsored by royalty/aristocracy, performed in the private laboratories.


Early Women Physicists/Astronomers: Early Women Physicists/Astronomers In this private/court setting, women participated along side their male siblings and spouses: Sophie and Tycho Brahe (Astronomical data from which Kepler developed his three Laws of Planetary Motion) Caroline and William Herschel (discovered Uranus and many comets)


Research Shifts to Universities: Research Shifts to Universities During the 17th Century, research activities shifted from private laboratories to universities. Universities did not admit women: The elite women became excluded! Examples of U.K. and U.S.A. provided by Prof. Pancheri


The Reformation: The Reformation The Reformation brought about the dissolution of convent schools: these were in many instances the only educational resource available to women King Henry VIII ordered convent schools destroyed: established “public” schools (male only!) Martin Luther King Henry VIII


Women Physicists: Women Physicists Laura Bassi (Italy: 1711-1778) Marie Curie (Poland/France 1867-1934) Lise Meitner (Austria 1878-1968) Rosalind Franklin (U.K. 1920-1958) Chien-Shiung Wu (China/U.S. 1912-1997) Mileva Marić ???? (Serbia/Hungary/Germany/ Switzerland 1875-1955)


Laura Bassi: Prodigy of Bologna: Laura Bassi: Prodigy of Bologna Received a Ph.D. and was appointed faculty member at University of Bologna in 1732 (she was 21 years old!) University of Bologna was the first University in the world (established 1189) Laura Bassi, an experimental physicist, was the first female college instructor of any kind in Europe! She was also the second woman ever to receive a doctorate degree of any discipline. In addition to being a professor and a researcher, she was also a prominent social hostess and mother of 8 (some claim 12).


Progressive Leadership: Progressive Leadership How is it that the University which could not protect its scholars from the Inquisition became so progressive? a 70-year old Galileo Galilei, professor at University of Bologna was tried for heresy and tortured in 1633 for advocating Copernicus’ Heliocentric Model The genius of Laura Bassi was recognized by Cardinal Prospero Lambertini (later Pope Benedict IVX), a progressive leader and a prodigy himself( received Doctorate in Law and Theology at age 19). In addition to Bassi, he also appointed Maria Agnesi (famous mathematician and nun) to the University of Bologna in 1750*.


Bassi’s Work: Bassi’s Work As a “reader”, Laura Bassi lectured at the University. Bassi had to be chaperoned (by older ladies) while lecturing in the Amphitheater (students and other faculty were all male). Bassi had her own laboratory in which she conducted various experiments in Newtonian mechanics – she was a leading experimentalist She was the ONLY woman to experiment in electro-magnetism before Hertha Ayrton (~1890). Hertha Marks Ayrton: First woman elected to the Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1898.


Bassi’s Science: Bassi’s Science Married fellow faculty member (physician) Giovanni Veratti: they collaborated on medical applications of electricity Bassi repeated many of Benjamin Franklin’s experiments, She and Veratti installed the first lightning rod in Bologna Bassi’s work in electro-magnetism was continued by Luigi Galvani at Bologna and Alessandro Volta (inventor of the battery) at University of Pavia: both went on to become household names. Luigi Galvani: Discovered the electro-chemical basis for nerve action


Challenges: Challenges In Italy today: 23% of physics professors in Italy are women There are more female physics students (both undergraduate and graduate) than male. All graduate candidates take the same competitive exam for placement. Even now, however, the “glass-ceiling” at the top positions persists. Bassi’s Legacy Her marriage was decried by the Bolognese public - who wanted her to be their “learned virgin” married to the University She was criticized for relatively low number of papers because of interference from family duties. She did not become a full professor until age 65 in 1776.


Maria Sklowdowka Curie: Maria Sklowdowka Curie Born in Warsaw Arrived in Paris in 1891 for university studies at the Sorbonne. Received degree in physics in 1893, another in mathematics in 1894, and a teacher’s diploma in 1896 1895: married Pierre Curie: who had already discovered “Piezoelectric Effect” and was to submit his Ph.D. thesis on magnetism (“Curie’s Law”: M=CB/T) the same year. Maria Sklowdowka in 1891 before departing for Paris Pierre Curie


Radiation: Radiation In 1897 Mme. Curie started her Ph.D. thesis research on a systematic investigation of “radiation” discovered by Röntgen and Becquerel. Becquerel’s discovery of ionizing radiation from uranium was not met with excitement. He reported it at l’Académie des sciences on a routine Monday meeting where his colleagues listened politely and then moved on to the next item on the agenda Wilhelm Röntgen Henri Becquerel Mme. Curie had at her disposal the piezoelectric electrometer, invented by spouse Pierre and his brother Jacques, for the measurement of very weak currents


Surprising Results: Surprising Results Very early in her work, Mme. Curie discovered that thorium gives off the same radiation as uranium She also observed that the amount of radiation depended only on the amount of U or Th atoms present, independent of the chemical compound!!!. Pierre abandoned his own research and joined her in radiation research She went on to look at ores with U and Th. In pitchblende, they found evidence of much more radioactive components. Source: Lecture by Nanny Fröman to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, February 28, 1996


Discovery!: Discovery! They soon isolated what appear to be two previously unknown elements One is a metal chemically similar to bismuth: they named it polonium in honor of her homeland The second was an alkali metal with properties almost identical to barium: named radium. The Curies were a true partnership: evidence by the intertwined entries in their lab notebook. These discoveries were submitted as Mme. Curie’s Ph.D. thesis in 1903.


Nobel Prize and Honor!: Nobel Prize and Honor! In the same year (1903) in which Mme. Curie presented her Ph.D. thesis, the Curies were jointly awarded ½ the Nobel Prize in Physics. Mm.e Curie went on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. In 1995 the French government honored the Curies by disinterring their bodies and reburying them at the Panthéon in Paris (near the Sorbonne).


Lise Meitner: Lise Meitner Lise Meitner was born to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria. Austria had prohibitions against women attending universities. This was lifted in 1901 and she entered University of Vienna and studied with Ludwig Boltzmann “Boltzmann (who committed suicide in 1906) gave her the vision of physics as a battle for ultimate truth, a vision she never lost.“ (Otto Frisch, nephew)


Work on radioactive substances: Work on radioactive substances Meitner received her Ph.D. in 1907. And went to work with Max Planck at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin. She collaborated for 30 years with Otto Hahn on radioactive substances. Hahn and Meitner were both headed separate sections: Meitner worked on the physics and Hahn on the chemistry. Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn in their Laboratory in


Nuclear Fission!: Nuclear Fission! Meitner moved to Sweden in 1938 after the Nazi annexation of Austria. After the discovery of neutrons by James Chadwick in 1932, researchers were bombarding radioactive elements with neutrons Hahn found evidence of barium in the debris from neutron bombardment of uranium Meitner and nephew Frisch used Bohr’s liquid drop model and suggested giant resonance from neutron bombardment leading to fission. Otto Hahn James Chadwick Lise Meitner’s laboratory table


No Nobel Prize for Meitner!: No Nobel Prize for Meitner! In 1944, Otto Hahn received the Nobel prize in chemistry, which astonished him when he heard About it after the end of WWII. He was also shocked that a nuclear weapon had been constructed based on their discovery Meitner did not received the Nobel Prize (why?)!!! Neither Hahn nor Meitner worked on the bomb. Ironically Meitner is often referred to as the Mother of the Nuclear Bomb. Recommended Reading: “Lise Meitner, A Life in Physics by Ruth Lewin Sime


Rosalind Franklin: Rosalind Franklin Rosalind Franklin went to one of the few girls’ schools in London that taught physics and chemistry Her father was against women going to universities. She received a chemistry degree from Newham College, Cambridge in 1941. Awarded Ph.D. in chemistry in 1945 from Cambridge for work on carbon and graphite microstructures. Worked in Paris (1947-1950) and began working with X-ray diffraction techniques.


Franklin and DNA Work: Franklin and DNA Work Franklin returned to England in 1951 to work at King’s College, London. She was given a lab of her own by director John Randall and assigned the task of working on DNA structure Maurice Wilkins, who had previously worked on DNA but was not active, was on leave. On his return he thought she was a lab assistant. Many authors mistakenly identify Wilkins as Franklin’s supervisor In fact the two were equals at Randall’s lab.


Scientific Misconduct?: Scientific Misconduct? Franklin made by far the best X-ray diffraction photos During 1951-1953 she almost solved the DNA structure: she had already measured the unit cell dimensions She was scooped by Watson and Crick: they were shown one of her diffraction photographs along with unit cell dimensions by Wilkins. Watson and crick published in Nature in 1953. Franklin’s own article appeared in the same issue as supporting evidence James Watson and Francis Crick: Crick was known to have been giving seminars claiming that using X-ray crystallography to study DNA structure was a futile “mad pursuit” Watson reduced Franklin to a insignificant caricature in his 1968 book “The Double Helix”


No Nobel Prize for Franklin: No Nobel Prize for Franklin Rosalind Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958. James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1962. Neither Watson nor Crick mentioned Franklin in their Nobel addresses. Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously. To her death, Franklin never knew that Wilkins had shown Watson and Crick her diffraction photo.


Short Lesson in X-ray Diffraction of DNA (by Tamara Young): Short Lesson in X-ray Diffraction of DNA (by Tamara Young) Famous diffraction photograph #51 (of B-DNA) that Wilkins showed Watson and Crick


Interpreting The Image: Interpreting The Image You are familiar with this interference pattern. This is caused by light passing through 2 slits, and produces an image like the one seen below on a screen. So, if you were to see an image like this, you would know that you had 2 interference points.


Slide30: Likewise, these are diffraction patterns from benzene molecules. (A benzene molecule has 6 interference points, arranged in a hexagon.) In addition to the snowflake shape, you can obtain information about the number and placing of the benzene molecules from the diffraction pattern.


The DNA Diffraction Pattern: The DNA Diffraction Pattern This diffraction pattern is characteristic of a helix. The rows of spots are due to the parallel planes of interference. The cross is from the zig and zag of the helix. The varying intensity pattern indicates that there is a double (instead of a single) helix.


Measurements: Measurements h = the distance between bases p = the longitudinal period q = the pitch angle 1/h 1/p q h p q


A simulation (Ziggy Peacock): A simulation (Ziggy Peacock) We can simulate the X-ray diffraction of DNA with laser diffraction of light bulb filaments. I am working on a new laboratory activity for the students to measure the pitch angle and the longitudinal period of a light bulb filament using an ordinary He-Ne laser: expected to


Chien-Shiung (Madame) Wu: Chien-Shiung (Madame) Wu From Shanghai, China Received her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1940 Worked on the Manhattan Project (development of the first nuclear bomb in Los Alamos) during WWII Taught at Smith College and at Princeton Joined Columbia University in 1944 and remained there for the next 37 years Mme. Wu died in 1997.


No Nobel for Wu!: No Nobel for Wu! In 1956, Mme. Wu’s Columbia colleagues T.D. Lee and C. N. Yang proposed the idea of parity-violation. Mme. Wu performed a milestone experiment to demonstrate this effect Lee and Yang won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957. Mme. Wu did not share the prize. She did later receive a Wolf Prize.


Mileva Marić: Mileva Marić Born in Hungary to Serbian parents Was one of very few women ever accepted in the same program at Zurich (now ETH) that Albert Einstein was in Took the same classes as Albert Einstein According to biographer Andrea Gabor, was a better student than Albert


Mileva Marić: Mileva Marić In 1986, previously unknown documents, including “love letters” were found. Discovery of a “love child” named Liserl given up for adoption In some of these letters (~1901-1903) references were made of “our work” and “our theory of relative motion” Some, including Gabor, claim that Marić did all of Einstein’s mathematical work (allegedly witnessed by a boarder) Supporting evidence from linguistic analysis.


Mileva Marić: Mileva Marić Soviet Academician Abram Joffe, working as Rontgen’s post-doc ~1905, claimed to have seen the original manuscript of the Paper on Special Relativity with the name “Einstein-Marity” (Hungarian form of Marić) Marić was known to have used that form of name (customary in Switzerland) Albert was not known to have used that name…although some men in Switzerland do adopt such hyphenations…it is not required nor is it common (State department document attests to this convention to this day). Evidence is inconclusive and controversial. One hour documentary film “Einstein’s Wife” aired by PBS http://www.pbs.org/opb/einsteinswife/


Brownian Motion: Brownian Motion In 2004 I collaborated with Sid Rudolph and Gernot Laicher (Physics Dept.) to develop an experiment to measure the “mole” (Avogadro’ Number) using Brownian motion of micro-spheres. Award from Teaching Committee purchased 8 microscopes Experiment first run by the ACCESS women scholars in UGS 1430 (summer 2004) Experiment now part of PHYCS 2209/2219 (with further 7 microscopes from the Physics Dept) Equipment is available for this proposed course. Click picture to see movie of Brownian Motion of micro-spheres


Let us Celebrate 2005!: Let us Celebrate 2005!