Margaret Eliza Maltby
| Margaret Eliza Maltby | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
December 10, 1860 Bristolville, Ohio |
| Died |
May 3, 1944 (aged 83) New York City |
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | physics |
| Known for | Measurement of high electrolytic resistances.Conductivity of very dilute solutions. |
| Spouse | Never married |
Margaret Eliza Maltby (10 December 1860 – 3 May 1944) was an American physicist notable for measurement of high electrolytic resistances and conductivity of very dilute solutions. She was born in Bristolville, Ohio, and died in New York City.
Education
- A.B. Oberlin College 1882
- A.M. Oberlin College 1891
- B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1891
- Ph.D. Göttingen University 1895 under Friedrich Kohlrausch.
In 1887, Maltby enrolled as a "special student" at MIT because the institution did not accept female students. She was the first woman to earn a B.S. degree at MIT in 1891. She was the first American woman allowed to take a degree at University of Göttingen in 1895.[1] She was also the first woman to receive a PhD from Göttingen University; in fact, she was the first woman to obtain a physics PhD from any German university. She completed a year of postdoctoral work at Göttingen.[2]
Career
- 1889-93 Chair, Physics Department, Wellesley College
- 1897-98 Instructor, Lake Erie College
- 1898-99 Research Assistant, Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, Charlottenburg, Germany
- 1900-03 Instructor, Chemistry Department, Barnard College, Columbia University
- 1903-10 Adjunct Professor, Physics Department, Barnard College
- 1910-13 Assistant Professor, Barnard College
- 1913-31 Associate Professor and Chair, Physics Department, Barnard College
Invited back to Germany in 1898, Maltby worked under Friedrich Kohlrausch and helped set the methodology in the field of conductivity.[2]
Work
Most of her significant research occurred before she began teaching at Barnard College, a women's college founded in 1889, where her involvement in administration left her little time for research. Maltby was a mentor to her students, vigorously extending efforts to support their professional advancement. During her 31 years of teaching at Barnard, and the nearly 20 years that she was chair of the physics department, Maltby took a great interest in her students' learning, even introducing physics courses for non-physicists, including probably the first course in the physics of music.
There are many examples of her efforts to support the professional advancement of female physicists. As chair of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Committee on Fellowships, Maltby administered funds that supported women actively engaged in physics research during the early part of their careers. Since women were not eligible for many research fellowships because of their gender, the AAUW Fellowships were critical for maintaining a cadre of women physicists. Maltby's enormous effort contributed to the Fellowships' preservation.
Despite the college's Dean's Rule that stated, "the College cannot afford to have women on the staff to whom the college work is secondary; the College is not willing to stamp with approval a woman to whom self-elected home duties can be secondary," Maltby supported women's efforts to do both. As chair of the Physics Department, she vigorously opposed the forced resignation of Harriet Brooks when she planned to marry.
Physicist and History of Science interviewer Katharine Sopka wrote that her students greatly admired her. One wrote her that, "Professor Maltby was my mentor--a gracious lady--a friend and a counselor. Her most memorable advice to me was not to forgo marriage for a career--which advice I followed and lived happily ever after." Maltby, never married, although she adopted the orphaned son of a close friend in 1901.
The first edition of American Men of Science, published in 1906, recognized her name with star to note her as one of the country's top scientists.[2]
Maltby's scientific publications
- "Methode zur Bestimmung grosser elektrolytischer Widerstande," Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie 18:133-158 (1895).
- "Methode zur Bestimmung der Periode electrischer Schwingungen," AnPhCh 61: 553 (1897).
- "Das elektrische Leitvermögen wässriger Lösungen von Alkali-Chloriden und Nitraten," in Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen der Physikalisch-Technischen Reichsanstalt. Vol. 3: 156 (1900) with F. Kohlrausch .
Maltby's publications on education
- "A Few Points of Comparison between German and American Universities," PAColA 2ds. 62: 1 (1896).
- "The Relation of Physics and Chemistry to the College Science Courses," Columbia Quarterly 18: 56 (Dec. 1915).
- "History of Fellowships Awarded by the American Association of University Women, 1888-1929". New York: Columbia University Press, 1929.
Honors
- First woman to receive a Ph.D. in physics from Göttingen University 1895
- Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science 1889
- Fellow American Physical Society 1900
- Appeared in first seven editions of American Men of Science 1906
- Margaret E. Maltby Fellowship established by the American Association of University Women 1926 [1][3]
Personal life
Maltby herself never married but nevertheless enjoyed some of the pleasures of motherhood and grandmother hood through the adoption in 1901 of the orphaned son of a close friend." --Katharine Sopka.[3] Her passport issued on 25 Mar 1909 shows her traveling with her ward, Philip R Meyer, born 4 Jun 1897 in Waynesboro, Virginia.
Notes
- 1 2 "Margaret Eliza Maltby (1860-1944)". Smithsonian Institution Archives. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
- 1 2 3 Spangenburg, Ray; Diane Kit, Moser (1994). Modern Science, 1898-1945. Facts on File, Inc.
- 1 2 "Margaret Maltby 1860-1944". CWP at UCLA. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
References
- Scott E. Barr, "Margaret Eliza Maltby," American Journal of Physics, 28, pp. 474–475, 1960.