Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth-Century Women to Physics

by Edited by Nina Byers , Gary Williams

• ISBN13: 9780521821971
• ISBN10: 0521821975
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-09-04
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Why are there so few prominent female physicists� Traditionally women have faced barriers in higher education, denying them access to higher learning and scientific laboratories. Today many of these barriers have been breached, but the female pioneers who overcame discrimination and became major players in their fields remain largely in the shadows. Their names deserve to be known and the importance of their work, achievements and contributions to science warrant recognition. Out of the Shadows provides an accurate and authoritative description of the women who made original and important contributions to physics in the twentieth century, documenting their major discoveries and putting their work into its historical context. Each chapter concentrates on a different woman, and is written by a physicist with considerable experience in their field. The book is an ideal reference for anyone with an interest in science and social history.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	xiii
Foreword	xxi
FREEMAN J. DYSON
Introduction	1	(108)
NINA BYERS
1 Hertha Ayrton (1854-1923)	15	(11)
JOAN MASON
The electric arc (early plasma physics) and the formation of sand ripples at the seashore.
2 Margaret Eliza Maltby (1860-1944)	26	(10)
PEGGY ALDRICH KIDWELL
Acoustics, electrolytes and physics education of women.
3 Agnes Pockels (1862-1935)	36	(7)
GARY A. WILLIAMS
Earliest investigations of surface physics.
4 Marie Curie (1867-1934)	43	(13)
ABRAHAM PAIS
Natural radioactivity.
5 Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868-1921)	56	(10)
JEAN L. TURNER
Period-luminosity relation in Cepheid variable stars and measurement of intergalactic distances.
6 Harriet Brooks (1876-1933)	66	(8)
C.W. WONG
Radioactive nuclear recoil.
7 Lise Meitner (1878-1968)	74	(9)
RUTH LEWIN SIME
Nuclear fission, beta decay and discovery of the neutrino.
8 Emmy Noether (1882-1935)	83	(14)
NINA BYERS
Symmetries and conservation laws in physics including energy conservation in relativity theory; modern algebra.
9 Inge Lehmann (1888-1993)	97	(12)
BRUCE A. BOLT
Inner (solid) core of the earth; also other important geophysical discoveries.
10 Marietta Blau (1894-1970)	109	(18)
LEOPOLD HALPERN AND MAURICE M. SHAPIRO
Photographic method of studying particle tracks (nuclear emulsions).
11 Hertha Sponer (1895-1968)	127	(10)
HELMUT RECHENBERG
Application of modern quantum mechanics to atomic and molecular physics.
12 Irene Joliot-Curie (1897-1956)	137	(12)
HELENE LANGEVIN-JOLIOT AND PIERRE RADVANYI
Artificial radioactivity.
13 Katharine Burr Blodgett (1898-1979)	149	(9)
GARY A. WILLIAMS
Monolayers and non-reflecting films.
14 Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979)	158	(11)
VERA C. RUBIN
Chemical composition of stars and of interstellar space.
15 Mary Lucy Cartwright (1900-1998)	169	(9)
FREEMAN J. DYSON
Chaos theory.
16 Bertha Swirles Jeffreys (1903-1999)	178	(13)
RUTH M. WILLIAMS
Many-electron atoms and mathematical physics.
17 Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale (1903-1971)	191	(11)
JUDITH MILLEDGE
Molecular structure of benzene; advances in X-ray crystallography.
18 Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906-1972)	202	(11)
STEVEN A. MOSZKOWSKI
Nuclear shell model.
19 Helen Dick Megaw (1907-2002)	213	(9)
A. MICHAEL GLAZER AND CHRISTINE KELSEY
Structure of ice; advances in X-ray crystallography.
20 Yvette Cauchois (1908-1999)	222	(9)
CHRISTIANE BONNELLE
Bent crystal spectrometer.
21 Marguerite Catherine Perey (1909-1975)	231	(9)
JEAN-PIERRE ADLOFF AND GEORGE B. KAUFFMAN
Completion of the periodic table with the discovery of francium.
22 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910-1994)	240	(22)
JENNY P. GLUSKER
Structure of large biomolecules — insulin, penicillin, vitamin B12 and others.
23 Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber (1911-1998)	262	(10)
ALFRED SCHARFF GOLDHABER
Nuclear physics.
24 Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997)	272	(10)
NOEMIE BENCZER-KOLLER
Parity violation in nuclear physics.
25 Eleanor Margaret Burbidge (1919—)	282	(12)
VIRGINIA TRIMBLE
Astrophysics.
26 Phyllis StCyr Freier (1921-1992)	294	(9)
CECIL J. WADDINGTON
Cosmic ray studies.
27 Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (1921—)	303	(12)
M.S. DRESSELHAUS AND F.A. STAHL
Radioactive immunoassay.
28 Esther Conwell (1922—)	315	(9)
LEWIS ROTHBERG
Electrical conductivity and diffusion in solids.
29 Cécile DeWitt-Morette (1922—)	324	(10)
BRYCE DEWITT
Mathematical aspects of quantum field theory.
30 Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat (1923—)	334	(9)
JAMES W. YORK, JR.
Mathematical aspects of the general theory of relativity.
31 Vera Cooper Rubin (1928—)	343	(12)
ROBERT J. RUBIN
Dark matter.
32 Mildred Spiewak Dresselhaus (1930—)	355	(7)
G. DRESSELHAUS AND F. A. STAHL
Carbon compounds; condensed matter physics.
33 Myriam P. Sarachik (1933—)	362	(12)
JONATHAN R. FRIEDMAN
Metal—insulator transition; condensed matter physics.
34 Juliet Lee-Franzini (1933—)	374	(11)
PAOLO FRANZINI
Particle physics experiments.
35 Helen Thom Edwards (1936—)	385	(14)
JOHN PEOPLES, JR.
Constructions of very high energy particle beams and colliders.
36 Mary Katharine Gaillard (1939—)	399	(8)
ANDRZEJ J. BURAS
Elementary particle theory leading to the Standard Model.
37 Renata Kallosh (1943—)	407	(12)
ANDREI LINDE AND MICHAEL GUTPERLE
String theory.
38 Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943—)	419	(8)
FERDINAND V. CORONITI AND GARY A. WILLIAMS
Radioastronomy and discovery of pulsars.
39 Gail Hanson (1947—)	427	(13)
DAVID G. CASSEL
Quark jets and particle physics experiments at very high energies.
40 Sau Lan Wu	440	(11)
DAVID B. CLINE
High energy particle physics experimentation; gluon production and QCD studies.
Name index	451	(5)
Subject index	456