Biography Berta Karlik

1 biography

1.1 life , education
1.2 entering field
1.3 research
1.4 publications

biography
early life , education

berta karlik born in vienna upper-class family , home-taught elementary education. while being taught @ home learned play piano speak , write french, dutch , english. 1919 1923 attended reform-realgymnasium , upon graduating in 1923 accepted regular student philosophical faculty @ university of vienna until 1928 when received ph.d.

while enrolled student @ university karlik became essential member of hans pettersson s research group @ radium institute specialty being scintillation counter. karlik attended fellowship international federation of university women required travel while working radium institute.

after receiving degree in physics karlik accepted teaching position @ realgymnasium in vienna, former pupil.

entering field

in 1930 karlik found job @ laboratory run william bragg in london. here worked on crystallography , used x-rays study structure of crystals. karlik s knowledge of radiophysics attracted attention of noted crystallographers ellie knaggs , helen gilchrist. same year formed group these 2 women same year first visits marie curie s lab in paris signaled start of long correspondence various other female physicists.

while karlik sent letters marie curie kept regular correspondence other notable physicists such ellen gleditsch , eva resmtedt, 2 of curie researchers, lise meitner, whom karlik quite close during life. throughout life meet meitner worked team responsible discovering nuclear fission.

research

after studying in paris , london started working @ institut für radiumforschung (institut radium research) in vienna in 1931. 1937 allowed give lectures, , advanced in hierarchy of institute.

simultaneously karlik joined group on seawater research headed swedish physicist hans pettersson. mixing knowledge of oceanography , radioactivity, karlik helped bring concerns biological issue of uranium contamination of seawater.

during second world war made important discovery, element atomic number 85, astatine, product of natural decay. astatine s main use in radiotherapy kill cancer cells. due discovery karlik awarded haitinger prize chemistry austrian academy of sciences in 1947.

she became provisional director of institute in 1945 , official in 1947 upon discovering existence of astatine. berta karlik first woman full professor ( ordentliche professur ) @ university of vienna in 1956. retired in 1973, worked @ institute till death in 1990.

publications

alpha-radiation ascribed element 85, s.b.akad. wiss. wien, 152:abt. iia (nos. 6-10) 103-110(1943), t. bernert.
element 85 in natural disintegration series, z. phys., 123: (nos. 1-2) 51-72 (1944), t. bernert.
uranium content of seawater, akad. wiss. wien, ber, 144:2a (nos.5-6) 217-225 (1935), f. hernegger.




^ tsoneva-mathewson, s., m. f. rayner-canham, g. f. rayner-canham, devotion science: pioneer women of radioactivity, (eds. rayner-canham), mcgill-queen.s university press (1997)
^ tsoneva-mathewson, s., m. f. rayner-canham, g. f. rayner-canham, devotion science: pioneer women of radioactivity, (eds. rayner-canham), mcgill-queen.s university press (1997)
^ http://lise.univie.ac.at/physikerinnen/historisch/berta-karlik.htm
^ tsoneva-mathewson, s., m. f. rayner-canham, g. f. rayner-canham, devotion science: pioneer women of radioactivity, (eds. rayner-canham), mcgill-queen.s university press (1997)
^ http://www.w-fforte.at/de/wissenschafft-leben/pionierinnen/berta-karlik.html
^ http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/phase2/karlik,_berta@900123456.html
^ http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/phase2/karlik,_berta@900123456.html
^ http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/phase2/karlik,_berta@900123456.html