Ellen Gleditsch
Ellen Gleditsch (29 December 1879 – 5 June 1968) was a Norwegian
Early life and education
Ellen Gleditsch was born in 1879 in
Although she graduated from high school at the top of her class, the college entrance exams were not available to women at the time. Therefore, she worked as a pharmacy assistant where she was able to work toward a non-academic degree in chemistry and pharmacology in 1902.[7] In 1905 with the support of her mentor Eyvind Bødtker, she passed the university entrance exam, but chose to study in Paris.[8]
Career
After starting her career in pharmacy, she went on to study
She went anyway and despite having been rejected[8] was able to work at the laboratory of Bertram Boltwood at Yale University,[9] where she measured the half-life of radium, creating a standard measurement that was used for many years. One of the scientists who had originally turned her away from Yale, co-authored two articles with her and in June 1914, Smith College awarded her an honorary doctorate for her work.[8] In 1913–14, she returned to the University of Oslo[9] and became the second woman to be elected to Oslo's Academy of Science in 1917.[8] During the 1920s, Gleditsch made several trips to France to assist Curie, as well as a trip to Cornwall to investigate a mine located there.[10]
In 1919, Gleditsch co-founded the Norwegian Women Academics' Association, to focus on development of science and the conditions under which women scientists worked. She also believed that cooperation of scientists would foster peace. She served as president of the organization from 1924 to 1928.
Though her appointment as professor at Oslo in 1929 caused controversy,[12] she successfully started a radioactivity research group there. Throughout the 1930s, she continued to produce articles in English, French, German and Norwegian. She also hosted a series of radio shows to promote and popularize scientific study.[14] In the 1930s she directed, a laboratory doing radiochemistry in Norway, which was used as an underground laboratory by scientists fleeing from the Nazi regime. In 1939, she was appointed to the International committee on intellectual cooperation, where Marie Curie had also been sitting a few years earlier.[15] When Norway was occupied during the war, she hid scientists and continued using her home for experiments. During a raid on her laboratory in 1943, the women scientists were able to rescue the radioactive minerals, but all of the men were arrested.[8]
She retired from the university in 1946 and began working with UNESCO in their efforts to end illiteracy. In 1949, she was actively involved on the working committee and in 1952 was named to the Norwegian commission working to control use of the atomic bomb. That same year she resigned from UNESCO in protest over the admittance of Spain under Franco's fascist regime as a member.[16] In 1962 at the age of 83, she received an honorary doctorate from the Sorbonne, the first woman to receive such an honor.[17]
Honours and awards
- In 1920, Ellen Gleditsch was awarded Fridtjof Nansen's reward for outstanding research.
- In 1948 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Strasbourg.
- In 1946 she was appointed a Knight of the 1st Class of the Order of St. Olav.
- In 1957 she became an honorary citizen of Paris.
- In 1962, she was named an honorary doctor at the University of the Sorbonne, as the first woman ever.
- In 1966, she was appointed an honorary member of the Norwegian Chemical Society.
Commemoration
- Oslo Municipality has named a road after her; Ellen Gleditsch's road is located in the district Stovner in Oslo.
- In November 2018, OsloMet named a university building (P35) on the Pilstredet campus after her.[18]
- In 2019, she got a street named after her in her hometown Mandal. Ellen Gleditsch road is located on Malmøy.[19]
- In 2021, Radiumhospitalet's new cyclotron was named Ellen Gleditsch.[20]
Works
- (with .
- Sur le radium et l'uranium contenus dans les mineraux radioactifs, Comptes Rendus148:1451 (1909)
- 'Ratio Between Uranium and Radium in the Radio-active Minerals', Comptes Rendus149:267 (1909).
- Sur le rapport entre l'uranium et le radium dans les mineraux actifs, Radium 8:256 (1911).
- "The Life of Radium". American Journal of Science. 41: 112. 1916.
References
- bookrags.com.
- ISBN 978-0-941901-15-4.
- ^ Ellen Gleditsch, Norwegian Association for Women's Rights
- ^ Pedersen, Bjørn (20 June 2021), "Ellen Gleditsch", Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian), retrieved 16 December 2022
- ^ Bratberg, Terje (31 August 2022), "Gleditsch", Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian), retrieved 16 December 2022
- ^ Stanghelle, John (29 June 2022), "Nini Haslund Gleditsch", Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian), retrieved 16 December 2022
- ISBN 0841235228.
- ^ a b c d e f "The gifted crystallographer". Epigenesys. Retrieved 9 August 2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^ .
- ISBN 978-0-773-56658-3. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
- ^ a b "Rayner-Canham (1997)", p 66
- ^ S2CID 143440182.
- UCLA
- ^ "Rayner-Canham (1997)", p 69
- ^ Grandjean, Martin (2018). Les réseaux de la coopération intellectuelle. La Société des Nations comme actrice des échanges scientifiques et culturels dans l'entre-deux-guerres [The Networks of Intellectual Cooperation. The League of Nations as an Actor of the Scientific and Cultural Exchanges in the Inter-War Period] (phdthesis) (in French). Lausanne: Université de Lausanne. pp. 292.
- ^ "Rayner-Canham (1997)", p 72
- ^ "Rayner-Canham (1997), p 73"
- ^ storbyuniversitetet, OsloMet-. "Kvinnelige pionerer har gitt navn til bygg ved OsloMet". www.oslomet.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "Ellen Gleditsch gt. · 4515 Mandal, Norway". Ellen Gleditsch gt. · 4515 Mandal, Norway. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
- ^ "Syklotronen skal hete..." Oslo universitetssykehus (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
External links
- Ellen Gleditsch[permanent dead link] at the Journal of Chemical Education
- Scientist of the Day – Ellen Gleditsch at Linda Hall Library
Further reading
- Shearer, Benjamin F (1997). Notable women in the physical sciences : a biographical dictionary. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313293031.
- Rayner-Canham, Marlene F (2014). A Devotion to Their Science : Pioneer Women of Radioactivity. McGill-Queen's University Press. OCLC 951202227.
- Kubanek, Anna-Marie (2011). Nothing less than an adventure : Ellen Gleditsch and her life in science. Createspace Online. OCLC 774210181.