Draft:Edna Carter

Edna Carter was an American Physicist born in High Cliff, Wisconsin and was born on January 28, 1872, and passed away on May 14, 1963, at the age of 91. Carter graduated from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1894. Carter was known for her contributions to X-raytechnology. Carter’s work investigated the properties of X-rays and her resulting research aided Noble prize winner Max von Laue in discovering the wave-like properties of X-rays . Additionally, she was renowned for her work on the discovery of electrons and how they relate to radioactivity. She made waves in the creation of quantum theory and how it relates to atomic structure which could later be used to predict the behavior and volatility of molecules. The discovery and broadened use of radios and lasers were only possible due to her research on waves and her research aided in the understanding of light Wave–particle duality. She discovered many new particles as a result of her research on nuclear physics which made her a notable contribution to the discovery of fission and fusion. Her research aided Hubble's law of the expanding universe, and the growth of the field of optical spectroscopy.

Early life

Edna Carter was born January 29th, 1872, in High Cliff, Wisconsin. Her parents both came from New Hampshire, and she was raised as the youngest of her 8 other siblings. She grew up in a small town surrounded by Lake Winnebago and the countryside.

As a child, she loved to explore and always had a creative outlook, so her later path of physics came naturally to her. Although she initially wanted to go into biology, due to the inspiration of her biology teacher Marcella O’Grady. This sparked her inquisition into the world of sciences. Until her junior and senior years of high school, she was taught physics by a man named Mr. Cooley, who would permanently alter the trajectory of her life. Once graduated with a diploma from high school, she attended a state school in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where students learned to efficiently discuss important and modern topics, in order to succeed within the world of teaching others.

She then shortly became the assistant principal in a high school close by, Carter stating, “There I taught a great variety of subjects and sometimes burned the midnight oil literally in a lamp which smoked badly if I forgot to adjust it. My most vivid remembrance of that year concerns an argument with a minister. His sermon in ‘Education Week’, was a shock to all my ideas about science imbibed from Professor O'Grady's teaching, so I wrote an article for the local paper. This drew a bitter personal attack and bad consequences ultimately for my antagonist. Fortunately for me, Dr. Cooley at this point asked me to return to Vassar as an assistant in physics.”

College

Edna Carter studied at Vassar College as a student from 1890-1894. This would only be the very beginning of her nearly 70-year involvement with the university. After her rigorous studies, she would go on to research and aid in the development of various topics in physics, first becoming an assistant in physics to Dr. Cooley. After 2 years at Vassar College, she continued her career at The University of Chicago, studying alongside Albert A. Michelson and Nobel prize winner Robert Andrews Millikan, two renowned American physicists. For around 5 years, she went back to Oshkosh, Wisconsin to teach in high school, a time in her life she always considered satisfying and fulfilling, due to her ability to strengthen the bond between students and the material they were learning. She then went to Würzburg, Germany, in 1904, accompanying Marcella Boveri and Theodor Boveri, a German biologist, to study for her Ph.D. in Physics.

Adulthood

She returned to Vassar College in 1906 for the rest of her career, where she gratified the love for the thought-provoking world of physics to many and continued to inspire those studying around her, and those studying under her. She most usually found herself being the only woman in the places she studied, but the men accepted her as their own due to her excitement and unequivocal intelligence and professionalism within the field. She was a valued professor due to her excitement about these new topics and discoveries, bringing novelty to her students and gifting them with as much knowledge as she possibly could.

In only the second semester of teaching as a Physics professor at Vassar College in the school year of 1911-1912, she was awarded the prestigious Sarah Berliner Research Fellowship. Carter continued her work in the physics department under Professor J. J. Thomson at the University of Cambridge, as well as in Professor Wilhelm Wien's laboratory of Würzburg, Germany, receiving her doctorate in physics. Between the years of 1919 to 1939, Professor Carter served as chairman of the Vassar College Physics Department. In 1941, she organized the Physics Department at Albertus Magnus College and was a professor there for two years. During 1943 and 1944, she was involved in defense work for the Federal government of the United States at the California Institute of Technology.

Late-Life and Death

After serving a long career in research and development, as well as a well-respected professor at various universities, she officially retired after her work on rockets used in war at the California Institute of Technology at the age of 73. Due to keeping in touch with mentors, professors, and the departments she progressed, her retirement was a celebration of the work she had contributed to the field after many years. She eventually passed away at the age of 91 in 1963.