Harriet Brooks
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{{Infobox Scientist
|name = Harriet Brooks
|box_width =
|image =Replace_this_image_female.svg
|image_width =150px
|caption = Harriet Brooks
|birth_date = [[January 1]], [[1876]]
|birth_place = [[Exeter, Ontario|Exeter]], [[Ontario]]
|death_date = [[April 17]], [[1933]]
|death_place =
|residence =
|citizenship =
|nationality = [[Canada]]
|ethnicity =
|field = [[nuclear physics]]
|work_institutions =
|alma_mater =
|doctoral_advisor = [[Ernest Rutherford]]
|doctoral_students =
|known_for = [[radioactivity]]
|author_abbrev_bot =
|author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences =
|influenced =
|prizes =
|religion =
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|signature =
}}
'''Harriet Brooks''' ([[January 1]], [[1876]] - [[April 17]], [[1933]]) was the first [[Canadian]] woman [[nuclear physicist]]. She is most famous for her research on nuclear transmutations and [[radioactivity]]. [[Ernest Rutherford]], who guided her graduate work, regarded her as being next to [[Marie Curie]] in the calibre of her aptitude.
She was born in [[Exeter, Ontario|Exeter]], [[Ontario]] on [[New Year's Day]], 1876. She graduated with B.A. in [[mathematics]] and [[natural philosophy]] from [[McGill University]] in 1898.
She was the first graduate student of [[Ernest Rutherford]] (then professor at McGill University), under whom she worked immediately after graduating. With him she worked on [[Electricity]] and [[Magnetism]] for her Master's degree in [[1901]]. She was the first ever woman at McGill to receive a Master's degree.
After her Master's again under Rutherford she also did a series of experiments to determine the nature of the [[radioactivity|radioactive emissions]] from [[thorium]]. These experiments served as the foundation for the development of [[nuclear science]].
She was among the first persons to discover radon and to try to determine its [[atomic mass]].
For a brief period she also worked under the supervision of [[Marie Curie]].
In 1907 she married Frank Pitcher and left the field of [[physics]] since in those days it was mandatory in universities for any woman to resign from her job after getting married.
An obituary for Harriet Brooks was published by the New York Times on April 18, 1933, recording that she had died the previous day in Montreal at the age of 56, crediting her as the "Discoverer of the Recoil of Radioactive Atom." Brooks is considered one of the leading women of her time in the field of nuclear physics, second only to [[Marie Curie]].
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
*''Harriet Brooks: Pioneer Nuclear Scientist'' by Marelene F. Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham (ISBN 0-7735-1254-3)
==External links==
*[http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~cwp/Phase2/Brooks,_Harriet@842580299.html Article at UCLA]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Harriet}}
[[Category:1876 births]]
[[Category:1933 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian physicists]]
[[Category:Nuclear physicists]]
[[Category:Women physicists]]
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