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- Published: June 18, 2022 12:21
New Delhi: The Google doodle on June 18 paid tribute to Stefania Maracineanu, a Romanian physicist on the occasion of her 140th birth anniversary. She was considered one of the first women in the discovery and research of radioactivity.
Stefania Maracineanu, possessed a graduation degree in physics and chemical science in 1910. She started her career as a teacher at the Central School for Girls in Bucharest. She received a scholarship from the Romanian Ministry of Science while being there. Further, she decided to pursue graduate research at the Radium Institute in Paris.
According to a blog on Google, The Radium Institute was becoming a worldwide centre for the study of radioactivity under the guidance of physicist Marie Curie. Moreover, Stefania started working on her PhD thesis on polonium, an element that Curie discovered.
Today’s #GoogleDoodle celebrates Ștefania Mărăcineanu’s 140th birthday. The Romanian physicist was one of the pioneering women in the discovery of artificial radioactivity.
Learn more about her inspiring story here —> https://t.co/j3aE1v5pGf pic.twitter.com/MZ72AXhSM9
— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) June 18, 2022
Amidst her research on the half-line of polonium, Stefania noticed that the half-line seemed to be dependent on the type of metal it was placed on. This got her wondering whether alpha rays from the polonium had transferred some atoms of the metal into radioactive isotopes. Thus, her research led to the discovery of artificial radioactivity. Also, she applied to Sorbonne University in Paris to finish her PhD in physics, which she secured in just two years.
Stefania also tried her hands at researching artificial rain which made her travel to Algeria to test her result. Besides, she studied the link between earthquakes and rainfall. She became the first to report that there was a legitimate increase in radioactivity in the epicentre leading up to an earthquake.
Stefania’s work was recognised by the Academy of Sciences of Romania in 1936, where she served as the Director of research, however, she never got global recognition for the discovery.