Mildred Dresselhaus, a badass Jewish scientist whose monumental work with carbon helped build modern science and the nanotechnology industry as a whole,passed awayon Monday in Cambridge, MA at age 86.She was a a professor emerita at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dresselhaus, dubbed the “Queen of Carbon” by other scientists, came from a humble background.She was born as Mildred Spiewak on November 11, 1930 in Brooklyn to Polish-Jewish immigrants from Poland–and, theTimesobituary notes, grew up in the Bronx on public assistance.Because Dresselhaus did exceptionally in school, she was able to win scholarships to universities.Of her childhood, Dresselhaussaid:
“My early years were spent in a dangerous, multiracial, low-income neighborhood.My early elementary school memories up through ninth grade are of teachers struggling to maintain class discipline with occasional coverage of academics.”
So, what Dresselhaus actually do with carbon?According the纽约时报, pretty much everything:
“Dr.Dresselhaus used resonant magnetic fields and lasers to map out the electronic energy structure of carbon.She investigated the traits that emerge when carbon is interwoven with other materials: Stitch in some alkali metals, for example, and carbon can become a superconductor, in which an electric current meets virtually no resistance.
Dr.的Dresselhaus是富勒烯，也称为巴克球在研究的先驱：可以用作药物递送装置，润滑剂，过滤器和催化剂个碳原子的足球球形的笼子中。
她设想轧制个碳原子的单层片材为中空管的想法，最终实现为纳米管一个概念 - 与钢的强度的多功能结构，但只是万分之一人类头发的宽度。
她曾在碳上的色带，半导体，的硫化钼非平面单层，并且散射和微小粒子的振动效应引入到超薄线“。
But besides being a genius scientist, she also advocated for women in science, which makes sense considering she’s the first woman ever to be a full-time professors at MIT (starting in 1968).Only a few years later in 1971, she and another colleague created the first Women’s Forum at M.I.T., with the intention of exploring the roles of women in science.This in itself is significant, considering women were basically blacklisted from roles in science and academia, meaning that without Dresselhaus, science would be a very different place.Even Dresselhaus didn’t always believe she’d be a prominent scientist, stating in a prior访问:
“当时只有三个类型的工作通常女性打开：教学，护理和秘书工作。我接着亨特学院想我会是一个基本的教师“。
Her colleagues and friends support the fact that Dresselhaus was supportive of other women.Lorna Gibson, now a professor of materials science and engineering,声明that she was an “approachable intellectual powerhouse,” while professor of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology Jacqueline K.Barton接着说how she was a mentor to her:
“米莉很简单，没有褶边的东西，我喜欢那个她。她总是热情和支持我，但我也有，重要的是让她知道我ios下载beplay的最后一个良好的实验的感觉。”
As if building a career in academia and pioneering carbon uses wouldn’t keep her busy enough, the Jewish scientist was also a mother and wife–she was已婚to Gene Dresselhaus, a well-known theorist, with whom she had four children and several grandchildren.Interestingly, the fact that she was a mother influenced her decision to study carbon, which she解释:
“我认为这是一个有趣的材料，它是适合于我们有实验室能力，磁光学。我也喜欢具有不太受欢迎的一个问题。我有年幼的孩子的时间。如果有一天我不得不在家里生病的孩子，也不会是世界末日。”
Like金斯伯格, when asked how she was able to balance it all, Dresselhaus曾经有人说that having a dedicated partner helps (and access to child care):
“一个好丈夫是它的一个重要组成部分，别人谁理解你正在试图做什么，并鼓励它。我也有一个好保姆。她为我工作了29年。”
In a time where immigrants (mostly especially Muslim immigrants) are being penalized in the U.S.for not being “American,” Dresselhaus’ story is not only fascinating, but an object lesson about a family that came here with little means and left the legacy of scientific achievement.American history is steeped in the history of immigrants, and without people coming to the U.S.in search of opportunity and a place to achieve their dreams, there wouldn’t be a United States of America.The similarities between Jewish immigrants like Dresselhaus’s family and Muslim immigrants of today whose kids might grow up to make amazing contributions is too strikingly similar to ignore–and let’s all remember that.
