Shirley Jackson
THEORETICAL PHYSICS (1945 - present)
Jackson is an American physicist, and
eighteenth president of Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute. As a theoretical physicist,
her research speciality is in condensed matter
physics, especially layered systems, and the
physics of opto-electronic materials. She is the
first African American woman to have earned a
doctorate at the prestigious Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. She is also the second
African American woman in the United States
to earn a doctorate in physics and in 2014, US
President Barack Obama appointed Dr.
Jackson as Co-Chair of the President's
Intelligence Advisory Board. Dr. Jackson was
also elected as an international fellow of the
British Royal Academy of Engineering in 2012
and has served on the Academy's Standing
Committee for International Affairs since 2013.
Lise Meitner
PHYSICS (1878 - 1968)
Lise Meitner was an Austrian-born physicist
who 1905 and was first woman from
the University of Vienna, and second in the
world, to earn a doctorate in physics. She also
made history becoming the first female to
become a full professor of physics in
Germany, earning the Enrico Fermi Award
with the chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz
Strassmann for their joint research that led to
the discovery of uranium fission. The principle
of "fission" also led to the development of the
first atomic bomb, which Meitner was asked to
join in the making of, but rejected outright.
She was given numerous awards and
honours during her lifetime and in 1997
the chemical element meitnerium was named
in her honour.
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