Berta Karlik

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Berta Karlik (born January 24, 1904 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary ; † February 4, 1990 there ) was an Austrian physicist and worked for the majority of her life at the University of Vienna . Her greatest success was the discovery of three isotopes of element 85, astatine , in the natural radioactive decay series .

Life

Berta Karlik was born in Vienna as the daughter of a well-to-do family (her father, Carl Karlik (1867–1951) was director of the state mortgage company). There she attended a public high school for girls, today's GRG 13 Wenzgasse , which she graduated from the top of the class in 1923 with the matriculation examination. In the autumn of the same year Berta Karlik began her studies of physics at the University of Vienna, where she graduated with distinction in 1927 with a dissertation "On the dependence of scintillations on the nature of zinc sulfide and the nature of the scintillation process". In 1928, shortly before Karlik's 24th birthday, her doctorate was announced.

Thanks to a scholarship from the International Federation of University Women , Karlik completed a year-long study visit to Paris and London before starting her work at the Vienna Institute for Radium Research in 1931 . In 1933 she was appointed as a research assistant and in the same year received the Haitinger Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences together with her colleague Elizabeth Rona . In 1936 Karlik applied for a habilitation and submitted her thesis "The limits of the detectability of heavy noble gases in helium". In 1937 she received the “ venia legendi ” and from 1937 onwards she gave regular lectures.

Because of her “ Aryan ” descent, Berta Karlik, unlike many of her colleagues, was hardly affected by Austria's annexation to Germany. She was able to continue her career unhindered, her institutional career continued unhindered. She was promoted to assistant professor in 1940 and dietitian two years later. Together with her colleague Dr. Traude Bernert succeeded even during the Second World War, the detection of the isotopes 215, 216 and 218 of the element 85 (astatine) in the natural decay chains, a highlight in Karliks research. (The isotope 211 of the element astatine was artificially produced in the USA by Emilio Segrè and colleagues as early as 1940).

After the Second World War, Berta Karlik was promoted to provisional director of the Radium Institute, which meant that she was responsible for rebuilding the institute. During this time she also worked intensively with Ilse Knapitsch and Lore Antoine to re-establish the Association of Women Academics in Austria . In 1947 Karlik became the definitive head of the Radium Institute. In 1950 he was appointed associate professor and in 1956 Karlik was the first woman ever to receive a full professorship at the University of Vienna. In 1951 she was awarded the City of Vienna Prize for Natural Sciences .

In 1973, one year before her retirement , the Academy of Sciences elected Berta Karlik as the first woman to be a full member. Karlik spent the last 15 years of her activity at the University of Vienna mainly with administrative tasks such as supervising diploma and doctoral students, managing the institute, etc. In 1975 she was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

Grave of Berta Karlik

Berta Karlik spent almost her entire life at "her" institute. Apart from a few stays abroad, she devoted all of her work to the University of Vienna and continued to work at the institute even after her retirement, where she died in 1990. She was buried at the Mauer cemetery.

Elisabeth Buzek (1901–2001), academic painter of many dwarf calendars, was Karlik's cousin.

Honors

In 2011, Berta-Karlik-Gasse in Vienna- Hietzing (13th district) was named after her.

In June 2016 she was honored with a bust in the arcade courtyard of the University of Vienna .

Fonts (selection)

  • Berta Karlik, Traude Bernert: A new natural α-radiation. In: Natural Sciences . Vol. 31, (1943), p. 298.
  • Berta Karlik, Traude Bernert: Element 85 in the natural decay series. In: Journal of Physics . Vol. 123 (1944), p. 51.

literature

  • C. Michael Lederer, Jack M. Hollander, Isadore Perlman: Table of Isotopes. 6th edition. John Wiley, New York 1967.
  • Maria Rentetzi: Berta Karlik (1904–1990). In: Jan Apotheker, Livla Simon Sarkadi (Ed.): European Women in Chemistry. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2011, doi: 10.1002 / 9783527636457.ch39 .
  • Brigitte Bishop: Karlik, Berta. In: Brigitta Keintzel, Ilse Korotin (ed.): Scientists in and from Austria. Life - work - work. Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2002, ISBN 3-205-99467-1 , pp. 353–356.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Catalog slip at the University Library Vienna
  2. ↑ orf.at - Seven women's monuments for the University of Vienna . Article dated October 28, 2015, accessed October 28, 2015.
  3. ↑ derStandard.at - Arkadenhof of the University of Vienna now also houses women's monuments . Article dated June 30, 2016, accessed July 1, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Karlik, Berta
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian physicist
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 4th February 1990
Place of death Vienna