Hello everyone,
I'm Nidhi Gupta, and this is Women Weekly! In this week of discussing the wonderful women in STEM, we are back with yet another incredible story of Marietta Blau, a pioneering physicist who revolutionized the field by harnessing the power of photography to study high-energy nuclear events and how photography met science.
In the early 20th century, nuclear physicists faced significant challenges in studying the atomic structure due to limited technological capabilities. Researchers spent countless hours in darkened laboratories, manually observing faint flashes in phosphorescent materials through microscopes. However, these primitive tools were unreliable and lacked data-recording capabilities. Marietta Blau revolutionized this field by harnessing the power of photography, paving the way for a new era of scientific discovery at the intersection of physics and photography.
Marietta Blau's pioneering work with nuclear emulsions yielded the first concrete proof of a long-sought phenomenon: the disintegration of heavy atomic nuclei, such as silver or bromine, triggered by cosmic-ray protons. This landmark discovery marked the dawn of particle physics, showcasing the reliability of emulsions in capturing high-energy nuclear events. Blau's innovative approach enabled the precise imaging and measurement of nuclear particles and reactions, paving the way for a deeper understanding of cosmic ray interactions and a significant leap forward in particle physics.
Marietta Blau's scientific ascent was tragically entwined with the turmoil of World War II. As her career was poised to flourish, the ominous shadow of Nazism loomed over her, fraught with personal and professional challenges. When she sought recognition, she faced sexist and anti-Semitic bias, with a colleague sneering, "A woman and a Jew, that's too much!" As her personal and professional situation rapidly deteriorated, Blau realized it was time to leave. Before she left Austria, German officials in Hamburg confiscated her scientific papers, including plans for future research. Her colleagues at the Radium Institute, including Wambacher, were devoted Nazis who sought to usurp her work and expel her. After her departure, they published papers on emulsions and cosmic rays, building on Blau’s research while ignoring or barely acknowledging her existence.
Marietta Blau sought refuge in Mexico for a few years before relocating to the United States in 1944 to continue her research. Albert Einstein assisted her in finding a safe haven, securing a position for her at the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City. However, Blau eventually moved to the Atomic Energy Commission at Brookhaven National Laboratory. At last, she was truly back in the research game, using her photographic methods with the latest cyclotrons and particle accelerators. Nobel laureate Erwin Schrödinger nominated Marietta Blau and her colleague Wambacher for the 1950 Nobel Prize in Physics, recognizing their pioneering work on cosmic rays and nuclear emulsions. However, Blau's prolonged absence from the scientific community ultimately worked against her. The award instead went to Cecil F. Powell, a British scientist who had expanded upon Blau's research and developed the photographic emulsion technique, leading to the discovery of pi-mesons in cosmic rays in 1937.
Marietta Blau's fleeting chance at scientific fame and recognition slipped away, leaving her to spend her later years in relative obscurity, her health and energy deteriorating. After spending 22 years away from home, she returned to Vienna in 1960, but even there, she was marginalized, working without pay at the Radium Institute, relying on pensions and family support. Schrödinger again recommended her for the Nobel, but to no avail. Her lifelong habits of heavy smoking and radiation exposure eventually caught up with her, leading to her death from cancer and heart disease on January 27, 1970. Her passing went largely unnoticed by the scientific community.
Marietta Blau's story, marked by political upheaval and the unauthorized use of her research, serves as a powerful reminder of the obstacles encountered by numerous groundbreaking scientists. Her influential work in particle physics paved the way for subsequent breakthroughs, demonstrating the potential of combining physics and photography to reveal the mysteries of the atomic realm.
REFERENCES-
Well written as always!!