Talk:Margaret Eliza Maltby/GA1

GA Review

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Nominator: Physhist (talk · contribs) 20:51, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

Reviewer: Esculenta (talk · contribs) 16:01, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

Hi, I'll review this. I should have comments up within a couple of days. Esculenta (talk) 16:01, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

Here are my initial comments:

Lead

• The lead seems a little thin; perhaps mention her role in obtaining fellowships for female researchers (constrasted with the contemporary difficulty of women receiving these), her introduction of the first course on physics of music. Her "adoption" and subsequent revelations should also be mentioned.
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• "Maltby was also the first woman to earn"
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• German qualifies as WP:Overlink, but it would be appropriate to have links for solution, electrolytic, resistance
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)

Early life

• "Maltby would later change her name to Margaret in 1889." probably clearer to use the simple past tense (generally more suitable for historical facts in a biographical article) rather than future-in-the-past tense. Also, it's a bit unclear which of the three Maltby ladies are being referred to here. I note that there's some more interesting details in the Behrman (2020) source; that her sisters were quite a bit older, that they named her, and that she disliked the name intensely.
  • Done, although I'm trying to avoid too much self-citation Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• reading further in Behrman (2020) source, I notice that the article doesn't mention her close and long-lasting friendship with Ellen Swallow Richards. There's also some discussion about her views on marriage that could be elaborated in the article, and would help provide some background context to her later views on the subject. Also maybe highlight the contradiction (pointed out by Behrman) between Laura Gill's position on the "loyalty" of married women academics with the "self-elected home duty" implied by Maltby's "adopted" son?
  • Done (but see above) Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• more from this source: "Margaret Maltby had asked Philip to burn all of her personal papers upon her death." I think expanding on the "why" of this would help provide important contextual information on some of the difficulties female academic faced.
  • Done (but see above) Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• unlink science, mathematics
  • Done (but see above) Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• "After Edmund Maltby's death, the Maltby family moved to Oberlin, Ohio, for educational opportunities." date?
  • I couldn't find a reputable source for his death date. Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)

Education

• possible useful links: preparatory school, matriculating, acoustics, Charles R. Cross (physicist), frequency, sound wave, fellowship, physical chemistry, conductor, solvent
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• "In 1887, Maltby enrolled at MIT" use full name & link & abbreviate on first use in non-lead text
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• "Maltby and Cross's work, published in 1892, showed that less than a cycle was necessary to distinguish a C3 tuning fork from a C4 tuning fork." Does the source mention that this is one octave apart (~130.8 Hz)? If so, might be good to add this for a bit more context.
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• "European Fellowship" don't think the latter word needs capitalization
  • "European Fellowship" was the name of the fellowship, which is why it's in capitals. Would quotation marks help make that clearer? Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
    • Nah, unnecessary. Esculenta (talk) 18:25, 13 July 2024 (UTC)

Career

• "Maltby had previously taught at Wellesley as an instructor in physics from 1889 to 1893." are the dates correct? From previous text, she entered the college in 1887 and graduated in 1893; would it have been normal to have a 3rd/4th year student as a physics "instructor"? The Scott (1960) says that she was there from 1889–1893, but does not mention any teaching.
  • Yes it was normal for advanced students to help as instructors at women's colleges, especially if they were pursuing advanced studies elsewhere at the same time. Since Maltby was going for her second bachelor's degree and had experience teaching, she would have qualified. Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• "At the end of the Fall 1896 term" capitalization not required
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• "Maltby suddenly resigned for what she claimed at the time was to recuperate from a serious accident." any more details? Never mind, I figured it out :)
  • :) Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• links: mathematical physics, adjunct professor, chair
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• "Unfortunately Maltby's involvement in administration…" see MOS:EDITORIAL
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• "1909-1910" (and others) number ranges require an endash, not a hyphen
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• "The first edition of American Men of Science, published in 1906, recognized Maltby's name with a star denoting her as one of the country's top scientists." What was the start for? (I assume it's because she was a woman, but perhaps it should be said explicitly?) Was she the first woman to receive this accolade? This source says her name remained on that list for the next six editions of the publication.
  • Added further details about the star. She wasn't the first woman, although one of the first since that was the first edition. The star was a recognition for just being one of the most notable scientists of the time. I'd have to do further digging to find out how many women were also starred in that first edition. Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)
• That same source also says "She was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society, and in 1960 her photograph was included in the American Journal of Physics where she was one of eight physicists profiled, and the only woman.", which seems like interesting/relevant info that could be included. Also, it mentions a May 5, 1944 New York Times obit; have you seen this?
  • Done, and yes! The NYT obit is one of the article's references
• The 1916 source Maltby-Maltbie family history has more information about her relatives
  • Unsure about where/how to add this. It doesn't add more information about her life specifically, but it also doesn't make clear how she is potentially related to other famous Maltbys
• this source mentions that her work with Nersnt involved a novel application of a Wheatstone bridge for measuring conductivity in electrolytically resistant substances; I think adding this would give a bit more useful context about the nature of her research.
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)

Personal life

• "In her leisure time, Maltby enjoyed listening to music, especially the opera, and travel."
  • Done Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)

• about the publication: is this a complete list of her pubs? If so, state that explicitly and give a source where the list came from. Otherwise, the heading should be "Selected publications"
  • It's as complete as I could find, but doesn't have a specific source. Changed the heading to "Selected publications"
• not necessary for GA, but it would be nice to give translated titles, and doi's for the other pubs listed. Some of these are fully available for viewing too (e.g. https://zenodo.org/records/1589399/files/article.pdf?download=1)
  • Added where I could! Physhist (talk) 14:08, 13 July 2024 (UTC)

Wrapping up

Improvements look fine! I've made some minor copyedits & image caption tweaks; please check and revert what you don't like. Finishing up this review:

• images: all images are public domain, and used appropriately in the article with proper captions. I suggest that cropping the white (yellow) space around a couple of them would be an improvement. There's a bit a text squeeze between the "Early life" image and the infobox (that might be helped a bit with a crop). These suggestions are beyond the GA criteria though.
• spotchecks:

I confirmed all statements attributed to Gill 2016, Rossiter 1992, and Kidwell 2006. No problems noted.

• while checking Rossiter 1992, I saw mention that Maltby had studied physics under Woldemar Voigt, which looks like an encyclopedic piece of information that you might add at your convenience.

To conclude, I think the article meets the GA critera and am happy to promote it at this time. Cheers, Esculenta (talk) 18:25, 13 July 2024 (UTC)