John (he/him)Jul 2
Ele Willoughby, PhD
Happy birthday to #physicist Harriet Brooks (1876 - 1933) who discovered atomic recoil, Radon & recognized radioactive elements could undergo chains of transmutations into a series of new elements. #nuclear #physics⁠
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She was Rutherford’s 1st grad student at McGill. After publishing her results in 1899 she completed her MSc in 1901 on “Damping of Electrical Oscillations,” before embarking on #radioactivity research.⁠ 🧵
⁠ #linocut #printmaking #sciart #womenInSTEM #histsci
Jul 2 at 11:39amWeb
Show threadEle Willoughby, PhDJul 2
Assigned to puzzle of Th “emanation” she discovered some of earliest evidence of transmutation! She co-authored with Rutherford, “The New Gas from Radium” in 1901. It was Radon. She measured its atomic mass.⁠
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Brooks pursued PhD at Bryn Mawr. She won President’s European Fellowship to go spend 1902-1903 in Cambridge working with J.J. Thomson who neglected her. She wildly underestimated her skills & was hindered by Thomson’s erroneous belief radioactivity was a chemical process. But, she made 🧵2
Show threadEle Willoughby, PhDJul 2

the first measurement of half-life of Radon.⁠

⁠Instead of returning to Bryn Mawr, she went back to McGill to work with Rutherford for a year. She noticed ‘volatility’ of radioactive substances, & saw 1st evidence of atomic recoil. When the radioactive element emitted an alpha particle the daughter nuclei would be propelled in the opposite direction - sometimes with such force that they became embedded in the plate (which hence becomes radioative). She also charted the decays of Th, Ra, & Ac, 🧵3

Show threadEle Willoughby, PhDJul 2
laying the groundwork for the discovery of nuclear decay series. She published results in 1904. ⁠
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As physics tutor at Barnard College, she met physics prof Bergen Davis, fell in love & became engaged in 1906. The Dean demanded her resignation, insisting she couldn’t be both physicist & wife. Brooks protested. She ultimately broke off the engagement, but resigned due to stress. ⁠
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Show threadEle Willoughby, PhDJul 2

She went to work with Marie Curie in Paris, who offered her a job, but Rutherford offered her a fellowship in Manchester. She accepted, but instead, encouraged by Mrs. Rutherford (who harboured traditional ideas about marriage) she married Frank Pitcher. She never returned to research & died of leukimia at 56, likely due to exposure to Radon.

https://minouette.etsy.com/listing/592877798

🧵5/5

Show threadΨ*ΨJul 2
@minouette oh cool, I never knew any of this!
Show threadEle Willoughby, PhDJul 3
@psistarpsiii thanks! She achieved so much in such a short career but her story is not well known.