fbpx
Wikipedia

Ellen Gleditsch

April 12, 2024

Ellen Gleditsch (29 December 1879 – 5 June 1968) was a Norwegian radiochemist and Norway's second female professor. Starting her career as an assistant to Marie Curie, she became a pioneer in radiochemistry, establishing the half-life of radium and helping demonstrate the existence of isotopes.[1][2] She was Vice President of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights 1937–1939.[3]

Ellen Gleditsch, graduation photograph
Ellen Gleditsch

Early life and education edit

Ellen Gleditsch was born in 1879 in Mandal, Norway. She was the daughter of Petra Birgitte Hansen (1857–1913) and headmaster Karl Kristian Gleditsch (1851–1913). Her siblings included architect Eivind Gleditsch(nl), Adler (1893–1978) who lived with her for the rest of her life following the death of their parents, Liv Gleditsch (1895–1977) who graduated with a degree in chemistry,[4] and civil engineer and geodesist Kristian Gleditsch. The family moved to Trondhjem and then Fredrikshald in 1905. She was the niece of Jens Gran Gleditsch and Kristen Gran Gleditsch, a first cousin of Henry Gleditsch and second cousin of Rolf Juell Gleditsch and Odd Gleditsch, Sr.[5] Her sister in law through Kristian was Nini Haslund Gleditsch (1908–1996).[6]

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 edit

After starting her career in pharmacy, she went on to study radioactivity at the Sorbonne and work in Marie Curie's laboratory from 1907 to 1912.[9] At the Curie Institute, Gleditsch performed a technique called fractional crystallisations, which purified radium. The work, which was highly specialized and few could complete, allowed her laboratory fees to be waived. She spent five years of analysis with Curie and returned even after leaving the lab to supervise experiments. In 1911, she received a "Licenciée en sciences degree" from the Sorbonne and was awarded a teaching post at University of Oslo where she worked with Margot Dorenfeldt. After working one year, Gleditsch won the first scholarship ever given to a woman from the American-Scandinavian Association to study in the United States, but was turned down by both of the schools at which she applied.[8]

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.[11] Joining the International Federation of University Women in 1920,[12] she served as its President from 1926 to 1929,[13] working to provide scholarships to enable women to study abroad.[12] In 1929, she made a trip to the United States traveling from New York to California with the intention of promoting scholarships for women.[11]

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 edit

 
Order of St. Olav Knight 1st class ribbon bar
  • 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 edit

  • 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 edit

  • (with Marie Curie) Curie; Gleditsch (1908). "Action de l'émanation du radium sur les solutions des sels de cuivre". Le Radium. 5 (8): 225. doi:10.1051/radium:0190800508022500.
  • Sur le radium et l'uranium contenus dans les mineraux radioactifs, Comptes Rendus 148:1451 (1909)
  • 'Ratio Between Uranium and Radium in the Radio-active Minerals', Comptes Rendus 149:267 (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 edit

  1. ^ 'Ellen Gleditsch', Encyclopedia of World Biography. Reprinted online at bookrags.com.
  2. ^ A Devotion to Their Science: Pioneer Women of Radioactivity. Chemical Heritage Foundation. 1997. pp. 51 ff. ISBN 978-0-941901-15-4.
  3. ^ Ellen Gleditsch, Norwegian Association for Women's Rights
  4. ^ Pedersen, Bjørn (20 June 2021), "Ellen Gleditsch", Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian), retrieved 16 December 2022
  5. ^ Bratberg, Terje (31 August 2022), "Gleditsch", Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian), retrieved 16 December 2022
  6. ^ Stanghelle, John (29 June 2022), "Nini Haslund Gleditsch", Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian), retrieved 16 December 2022
  7. ^ Rayner-Canham, Marelene and Geoffrey (1998). Women in Chemistry: Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to Mid-twentieth Century. American Chemical Society and Chemical Heritage Foundation. pp. 107–110. ISBN 0841235228.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "The gifted crystallographer". Epigenesys. Retrieved 9 August 2015.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ a b c Lykknes, A.; Kvittingen, L.; Børresen, A. K. (2005). "Ellen Gleditsch: Duty and responsibility in a research and teaching career, 1916-1946". Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences. 36: 131–188. doi:10.1525/hsps.2005.36.1.131.
  10. ^ Rayner-Canham, Marelene F.; Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey W. (1997). A devotion to their science pioneer women of radioactivity. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Chemical Heritage Foundation. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-773-56658-3. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  11. ^ a b "Rayner-Canham (1997)", p 66
  12. ^ a b c Lykknes, A; Kvittingen, L; Børresen, A. K. (2004). "Appreciated abroad, depreciated at home. The career of a radiochemist in Norway: Ellen Gleditsch (1879-1968)". Isis; an International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences. 95 (4): 576–609. doi:10.1086/430650. PMID 16011295. S2CID 143440182.
  13. ^ Gleditsch, Ellen, Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics, UCLA
  14. ^ "Rayner-Canham (1997)", p 69
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ "Rayner-Canham (1997)", p 72
  17. ^ "Rayner-Canham (1997), p 73"
  18. ^ storbyuniversitetet, OsloMet-. "Kvinnelige pionerer har gitt navn til bygg ved OsloMet". www.oslomet.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  19. ^ "Ellen Gleditsch gt. · 4515 Mandal, Norway". Ellen Gleditsch gt. · 4515 Mandal, Norway. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  20. ^ Oslo universitetssykehus (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2022.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ellen Gleditsch.

Further reading edit

  • 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. ISBN 9780773566583. OCLC 951202227.
  • Kubanek, Anna-Marie (2011). Nothing less than an adventure : Ellen Gleditsch and her life in science. Createspace Online. ISBN 9781452842134. OCLC 774210181.

April 12, 2024
ellen, gleditsch, december, 1879, june, 1968, norwegian, radiochemist, norway, second, female, professor, starting, career, assistant, marie, curie, became, pioneer, radiochemistry, establishing, half, life, radium, helping, demonstrate, existence, isotopes, v. Ellen Gleditsch 29 December 1879 5 June 1968 was a Norwegian radiochemist and Norway s second female professor Starting her career as an assistant to Marie Curie she became a pioneer in radiochemistry establishing the half life of radium and helping demonstrate the existence of isotopes 1 2 She was Vice President of the Norwegian Association for Women s Rights 1937 1939 3 Ellen Gleditsch graduation photographEllen Gleditsch Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 3 Honours and awards 4 Commemoration 5 Works 6 References 7 External links 8 Further readingEarly life and education editEllen Gleditsch was born in 1879 in Mandal Norway She was the daughter of Petra Birgitte Hansen 1857 1913 and headmaster Karl Kristian Gleditsch 1851 1913 Her siblings included architect Eivind Gleditsch nl Adler 1893 1978 who lived with her for the rest of her life following the death of their parents Liv Gleditsch 1895 1977 who graduated with a degree in chemistry 4 and civil engineer and geodesist Kristian Gleditsch The family moved to Trondhjem and then Fredrikshald in 1905 She was the niece of Jens Gran Gleditsch and Kristen Gran Gleditsch a first cousin of Henry Gleditsch and second cousin of Rolf Juell Gleditsch and Odd Gleditsch Sr 5 Her sister in law through Kristian was Nini Haslund Gleditsch 1908 1996 6 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 Bodtker she passed the university entrance exam but chose to study in Paris 8 Career editAfter starting her career in pharmacy she went on to study radioactivity at the Sorbonne and work in Marie Curie s laboratory from 1907 to 1912 9 At the Curie Institute Gleditsch performed a technique called fractional crystallisations which purified radium The work which was highly specialized and few could complete allowed her laboratory fees to be waived She spent five years of analysis with Curie and returned even after leaving the lab to supervise experiments In 1911 she received a Licenciee en sciences degree from the Sorbonne and was awarded a teaching post at University of Oslo where she worked with Margot Dorenfeldt After working one year Gleditsch won the first scholarship ever given to a woman from the American Scandinavian Association to study in the United States but was turned down by both of the schools at which she applied 8 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 11 Joining the International Federation of University Women in 1920 12 she served as its President from 1926 to 1929 13 working to provide scholarships to enable women to study abroad 12 In 1929 she made a trip to the United States traveling from New York to California with the intention of promoting scholarships for women 11 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 edit nbsp Order of St Olav Knight 1st class ribbon barIn 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 editOslo 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 Malmoy 19 In 2021 Radiumhospitalet s new cyclotron was named Ellen Gleditsch 20 Works edit with Marie Curie Curie Gleditsch 1908 Action de l emanation du radium sur les solutions des sels de cuivre Le Radium 5 8 225 doi 10 1051 radium 0190800508022500 Sur le radium et l uranium contenus dans les mineraux radioactifs Comptes Rendus 148 1451 1909 Ratio Between Uranium and Radium in the Radio active Minerals Comptes Rendus 149 267 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 edit Ellen Gleditsch Encyclopedia of World Biography Reprinted online at bookrags com A Devotion to Their Science Pioneer Women of Radioactivity Chemical Heritage Foundation 1997 pp 51 ff ISBN 978 0 941901 15 4 Ellen Gleditsch Norwegian Association for Women s Rights Pedersen Bjorn 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 Rayner Canham Marelene and Geoffrey 1998 Women in Chemistry Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to Mid twentieth Century American Chemical Society and Chemical Heritage Foundation pp 107 110 ISBN 0841235228 a b c d e f The gifted crystallographer Epigenesys Retrieved 9 August 2015 permanent dead link a b c Lykknes A Kvittingen L Borresen A K 2005 Ellen Gleditsch Duty and responsibility in a research and teaching career 1916 1946 Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 36 131 188 doi 10 1525 hsps 2005 36 1 131 Rayner Canham Marelene F Rayner Canham Geoffrey W 1997 A devotion to their science pioneer women of radioactivity Philadelphia Pennsylvania Chemical Heritage Foundation p 73 ISBN 978 0 773 56658 3 Retrieved 9 August 2015 a b Rayner Canham 1997 p 66 a b c Lykknes A Kvittingen L Borresen A K 2004 Appreciated abroad depreciated at home The career of a radiochemist in Norway Ellen Gleditsch 1879 1968 Isis an International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences 95 4 576 609 doi 10 1086 430650 PMID 16011295 S2CID 143440182 Gleditsch Ellen Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics UCLA Rayner Canham 1997 p 69 Grandjean Martin 2018 Les reseaux de la cooperation intellectuelle La Societe des Nations comme actrice des echanges 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 Universite 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 Bokmal Archived from the original on 18 September 2021 Retrieved 12 May 2022 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ellen Gleditsch Ellen Gleditsch permanent dead link at the Journal of Chemical Education Scientist of the Day Ellen Gleditsch at Linda Hall LibraryFurther reading editShearer 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 ISBN 9780773566583 OCLC 951202227 Kubanek Anna Marie 2011 Nothing less than an adventure Ellen Gleditsch and her life in science Createspace Online ISBN 9781452842134 OCLC 774210181 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ellen Gleditsch amp oldid 1211820948, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.