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Gertrude Scharff-Goldhaber, 1911–1998: Nuclear Physicist Against the Odds

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Abstract

The author’s mother, Gertrude Scharff-Goldhaber, was a prominent nuclear physicist who had to overcome steep odds to pursue her work. She lived and worked at a time when it was very uncommon for any woman to be a scientist and even more uncommon for a mother of young children. She also faced Nazi persecution and a series of other challenges in growing up in Germany. Drawing on personal conversations and testimony of her friends, this brief account includes a number of intimate details to illustrate some of the difficulties she faced and the zest for life and for understanding the world that pushed her forward anyway. Details of her work and a bibliography are included.

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References

  1. See Margaret W. Rossiter, “Faculty at Major Universities: The Antinepotism Rules and the Grateful Few,” in Women Scientists in America: Before Affirmative Action, 1940–1972 (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).

  2. Spencer Weart, “Scientists with a Secret,” Physics Today 29(2) (1976), 23–30, discusses physicists’ self-censorship of fission research.

  3. Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews: The Revised and Definitive Edition (New York: Holmes and Meier, 1985) provides a complete account of the Nazi era and what became known as the Holocaust. See also Christian Gerlach, “The Wannsee Conference, the Fate of German Jews, and Hitler’s Decision in Principle to Exterminate All European Jews,” The Journal of Modern History 70(4) (1998), 759–812, which discusses the mystery of why some German Jews were not only deported but killed before Wannsee had set up the policy.

  4. Decades later, Trude asserted she had wanted children, but not so soon.

  5. That is, she had no brothers. Interestingly, Lisa Randall, the distinguished theoretical physicist currently active, recently said in an interview in the Huffington Post that possibly women raised without older brothers are more likely to become scientists. She admits she has only anecdotal evidence, but it does fit Trude’s case. Lila Shapiro, “The One Question This Brilliant Physicist Wants People To Stop Asking Her,” The Huffington Post, December 15, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lisa-randall-women-science-questions_566f1b98e4b0e292150ebeb9.

  6. The actual house appears to be the only one in the square to have been destroyed by a World War II allied bomb.

  7. Although I am repeating it here as I heard it from her, this story does not ring entirely true to me. How could a powerful and astute businessman be this susceptible to the whims of his daughters if he had any sense of the dangers? My guess is that he was not very reluctant to move back.

  8. See G. P. Thomson and W. Conway, Theory and Practice of Electron Diffraction (London: Macmillan, 1938), vii.

  9. Maurice had never lived in Poland as such and spoke no Polish, but Lemberg, where he was born, had become Lwow, Poland, after World War I. It is now Lviv, Ukraine, with traces of the once-vibrant Jewish life there mostly erased from local memory. The Polish Ambassador in Berlin in 1933 had been willing to grant Maurice Polish citizenship, necessary for him to be able to leave Germany. Apparently this diplomat already foresaw war with Germany and wanted to enlarge the number of potential recruits to the Polish army. Maurice had used his Polish passport to go first to England and then to America, where the number of Jewish refugees from Poland was still small enough to permit entry at a time when German-Jewish refugees were already being blocked.

  10. Dan Kevles, “Cold War and Hot Physics: Science, Security, and the American State, 1945–56,” Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 20 (1990), 239–64.

  11. See Audra Wolfe, “The Military-Academic-Industrial Complex and the Path Not Taken,” in Origins of the National Security State and the Legacy of Harry S. Truman, ed. Mary Ann Heiss and Michael J. Hogan (Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2015), 143–64.

  12. Barton J. Bernstein, “Four Physicists and the Bomb: The Early Years, 1945–1950,” Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 18 (1988), 231–63.

  13. Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New World, 1939/1946: A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962).

  14. Peter J. Westwick, The National Labs: Science in an American System, 1947–1974 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003).

  15. Robert P. Crease, Making Physics: A Biography of Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1946–1972 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999).

  16. Brookhaven National Laboratory, “About the Brookhaven Lecture Series,” accessed April 22, 2016, https://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/lectures/.

  17. The complete list of previous lectures is available at https://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/lectures/.

  18. Her efforts were part of a broader effort to expand and improve math and science education in this era. See Christopher J. Phillips, “In Accordance with a ‘More Majestic Order’: The New Math and the Nature of Mathematics at Midcentury,” Isis 105 (2014), 540–63.

  19. Peter D. Bond and Ernest Henley, “Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber, 1911–1998,” Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 1999).

  20. Gertrude Scharff-Goldhaber and Alfred S. Goldhaber, “Extension of the Variable Moment of Inertia Model Toward Magic Nuclei,” Physical Review Letters 24 (1970), 1349–53.

  21. Bond and Henley, “Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber” (ref. 19).

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Acknowledgments

I thank Susan Lindee for the initial impetus to do this work as well as helpful suggestions, Alfred Scharff Goldhaber, Katharine P. Darrow, Annette Marcus, Peter Schrag, Katherine Johnson, and Douglas R. Hofstadter for comments, Gene Sprouse for help in publication, Paul Delehanty for preparing the appendix, and my wife, Karen Weinstein, though she never met my mother, for continual encouragement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Berkeley, CA, USA

    Michael H. Goldhaber

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  1. Michael H. Goldhaber
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Correspondence to Michael H. Goldhaber.

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Michael H. Goldhaber is a theoretical physicist, a founder of the 1970s organization Science for the People, an abstract artist, the author of Reinventing Technology: Policies for Democratic Values, and a theorist of attention economics—which he invented in the 1980s.

Appendix: Articles and Abstracts by Gertrude Scharff-Goldhaber 1935–1988

Appendix: Articles and Abstracts by Gertrude Scharff-Goldhaber 1935–1988

Scharff, G. “Über die Gültigkeit der Beckerschen Beziehung für die Anfangspermabilität von stark gezogenem Nickeldraht [On the validity of Becker’s relationship for initial permeability of highly stretched nickel wire].” PhD diss., Ludwig-Maximillian University, 1935.

Scharff, G. “Über den Einfluß des Zuges auf die Magnetisierung oberhalb des Curiepunktes [The Effect of Stress on the Magnetization above the Curie Point].” Annalen der Physik 417(3) (1936), 223–32.

Good, W. E. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Scattering Cross Section of Protons for 900-keV Neutrons.” Physical Review 58 (1940), 89.

Good, W. E. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Total Cross Sections for 900-keV Neutrons.” Physical Review 59 (1941), 917.

O’Neal, R. D. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Investigation of the X-Radiation from Te121 (125 Days) by Critical Absorption and Fluorescence.” Physical Review 62 (1942), 83–84.

O’Neal, R. D. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Erratum: Investigation of the X-Radiation from Te121 (125 Days) by Critical Absorption and Fluorescence.” Physical Review 62 (1942), 401.

Klaiber, G. S. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Photoneutrons Produced in Beryllium by the Gamma Rays of Radio Antimony (60d).” Physical Review 61 (1942), 733.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G., M. Goldhaber, and R. S. Yalow. “Attempt to Detect Nuclear Resonance Absorption of Gamma-Rays.” Physical Review 67 (1945), 59.

Arnett, H. D., G. Scharff-Goldhaber, and G. S. Klaiber. “Search for (n, α)-Reaction in Rare Earth Elements with Slow Neutrons.” Physical Review 68 (1945), 100.

Klaiber, G. S. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Spontaneous Emission of Neutrons from Uranium.” Physical Review 70 (1946), 229.

O’Neal, R. D. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Determination of Absolute Neutron Intensities.” Physical Review 69 (1946), 368.

Meyerhof, W. E. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Decay Scheme of Sb124.” Physical Review 72 (1947), 273–75.

Goldhaber, M. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Identification of Beta Rays with Atomic Electrons,” Physical Review 73 (1948), 1472–73.

Friedlander, G., M. Goldhaber, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Long-Lived Metastable State of Te125.” Physical Review 74 (1948), 981.

Hill, R. D., G. Scharff-Goldhaber, Friedlander, G. “Internal conversion electrons from metastable Te125.” Physical Review 75 (1949), 324.

Friedlander, G., M. L. Perlman, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Conversion Coefficient of the 35-keV Gamma-Ray of Te125.” Physical Review 80 (1950), 1103–4.

Sunyar, A. W., D. E. Alburger, G. Friedlander, M. Goldhaber, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Isomerism in Pb204.” Physical Review 78 (1950), 326A.

Sunyar, A. W., D. Alburger, G. Friedlander, M. Goldhaber, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Isomerism in Pb204 and ‘Memory’ in Angular Correlation.” Physical Review 79 (1950), 181–82.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. and M. McKeown. “Study of Low Energy Gamma-Radiations Emitted from Pa231 and U234.” Physical Review 82 (1951), 123–25.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G., E. der Mateosian, M. Goldhaber, G. W. Johnson, and M. McKeown. “Two-Step Isomeric Transition in Sn119m (250 days).” Physical Review 83 (1951), 480–81.

Goldhaber, M., E. der Mateosian, A. W. Sunyar, M. Deutsch, N. S. Wall, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Isomeric State of Y89 and the Decay of Zr89.” Physical Review 83 (1951), 661–62.

Deutsch, M. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Decay of 10.7-min Co60m.” Physical Review 83 (1951) 1059.

Hill, R. D., G. Scharff-Goldhaber, and M. McKeown. “Two-Step Isomeric Transition in Ba133m (39 hr).” Physical Review 84 (1951), 382–83.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Excited States of Even-Even Nuclei.” Physica 18 (1952), 1185–109.

Sunyar, A. W., J. W. Mihelich, G. Scharff-Goldhaber, M. Goldhaber, N. S. Wall, and M. Deutsch. “Decay of Sr85 and Sr85m.” Physical Review 86 (1952), 1023–27.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. and M. McKeown. “Disintegration Scheme of Br80 (18 min).” Physical Review 92 (1953), 356–58.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Excited States of Even-Even Nuclei.” Physical Review 90 (1953), 587–602.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. and J. Weneser. “System of Even-Even Nuclei.” Physical Review 98 (1955), 212–14.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G., E. der Mateosian, G. Harbottle, and M. McKeown. “Decay of U232 (74 yr).” Physical Review 99 (1955), 180–83.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Regularities in the Level Schemes of Heavy Even-Even Nuclei.” Physical Review 103 (1956), 837–38.

Harbottle, G., M. McKeown, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Disintegration Scheme of Ra226 (1620 yr.).” Physical Review 103 (1956), 1776–77.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Recent Advances in the Systematics of Even-Even Nuclei.” In Nuclear Structure: Proceedings of the University of Pittsburgh Conference, June 6–8, 1957. Washington, D.C.: Office of Ordnance Research, 1957.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G., D. E. Alburger, G. Harbottle, and M. McKeown. “Studies of Decay Schemes in the Osmium-Iridium Region. I. Isomers Os190m (10 min) and Os189m (5.7 hr).” Physical Review 111 (1958), 913–19.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G., D. E. Alburger, G. Harbottle, and M. McKeown. “Erratum: Studies of Decay Schemes in the Osmium-Iridium Region. I. Isomers Os190m (10 min) and Os189m (5.7 hr) (Physical Review (1958) 112,6,(2139)).” Physical Review 112 (1958), 2139.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. and M. McKeown. “Triple Isomerism in Ir192.” Physical Review Letters 3 (1959), 47–50.

Kane, W. R., G. T. Emery, G. Scharff-Goldhaber, and M. McKeown. “Studies of Decay Schemes in the Osmium-Iridium Region. II. Decay of 12-day Ir190.” Physical Review 119 (1960), 1953–69.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G., A. Goodman, and M. G. Silbert. “Decay of Oxygen 20.” Physical Review Letters 4 (1960), 25–27.

G. Scharff-Goldhaber, and M. McKeown. “Activities Observed in Iridium after Neutron Bombardment. Remarks on a paper by H. H. Hennies and A. Flammersfeld.” Die Naturwissenschaften 48(4) (1961), 96–97.

Schmorak, M., G. T. Emery, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “M3 Isomeric Transition in tin-113.” Physical Review 124 (1961), 1186–89.

Emery, G. T, W. R. Kane, M. McKeown, M. L. Perlman, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Studies of Decay Echemes in the Osmium-Iridium Region. III. Decay of 15.8-hour Ir186.” Physical Review 129 (1963), 2597–21.

Takahashi, K., M. McKeown, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Isomer Re188m.” Physical Review 136 (1964), B18–B27.

Takahashi, K., M. McKeown, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Decay of the Isomer Eu 152m2 (96 min).” Physical Review 137 (1965), B763–B771.

P. Alexander and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Evidence for a 7/2+ state in Mo93.” Physical Review 151 (1966), 964–69.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. and M. McKeown. “Indication of Parity Mixing in an Electromagnetic Transition.” In Proceedings of the International Conference on Weak Interactions, October 25-27, 1965, 333–36. Argonne, IL: Argonne National Laboratory, 1966.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. and K. Takahashi. “Analysis of Moments of Inertia of Odd-Odd Nuclei.” Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Physical Series 31(1) (1967), 38–41.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. and M. McKeown. “Anomalous L-Subshell Conversion Coefficients of the Highly K-Forbidden E1 Transition in Hf180m (5.5h).” Physical Review 158 (1967), 1105–11.

Paul, H., M. McKeown, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Search for Parity Admixture in the 57.5-keV Gamma Transition of Hf180m.” Physical Review 158 (1967), 1112–17.

Sunyar, A. W., G. Scharff-Goldhaber, and M. McKeown. “High-Spin Isomer Ir 194m2 Produced by Triple Neutron Capture.” Physical Review Letters 21 (1968), 237–40.

Sunyar, A. W., G. Scharff-Goldhaber, and M. McKeown. “Erratum: High-Spin Isomer Ir 194m2 Produced by Triple Neutron Capture (Physical Review Letters (1968) 21,7).” Physical Review Letters 21 (1968), 506.

Schroder, I. G., M. McKeown, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Mass Difference of K40 and Ar40.” Physical Review 165 (1968), 1184–89.

Mariscotti, M. A. J., G. Scharff-Goldhaber, and B. Buck. “Phenomenological Analysis of Ground-State Bands in Even-Even Nuclei.” Physical Review 178 (1969), 1864–86.

Kane, W. R. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Evidence for the Missing 2-State in Ag110.” Physical Review C 2 (1970), 314–19.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. and A. S. Goldhaber. “Extension of the Variable Moment of Inertia Model toward Magic Nuclei.” Physical Review Letters 24 (1970), 1349–53.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Is There a Relation between the Nuclear Binding Energy and the Parameters of the Variable Moment of the Inertia Model?” In Atomic Masses and Fundamental Constants 4: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Atomic Masses and Fundamental Constants, edited by J. H. Sanders and A. H. Wapstra, 272. London: Plenum Press, 1972.

Arima, A., G. Scharff-Goldhaber, and K. W. McVoy. “Possible Quasi-Molecular Rotational Bands in sd-Shell Nuclei.” Physics Letters B 40 (1972), 7–10.

Cochavi, S., O. Kistner, M. McKeown, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Study of High Spin States in Pd104 via the Zr94(C13, 3n)Pd104 Reactions.” Journal de Physique 33(8–9) (1972), 103.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Angular Momentum Boundary of the VMI Law.” Journal de Physique 33(8–9) (1972), 104.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G., M. McKeown, A. H. Lumpkin, and W. F. Piel Jr. “‘Forking’ of Ground State Bands in 102Pd and 100Pd.” Physics Letters B 44 (1972), 416–20.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “‘Phase Transitions’ in Ground State Bands of Near-Spherical and Spherical Pd Nuclei.” Proceedings of the International Conference on Nuclear Physic sheld at Munich, Germany, 27 Aug - 1 Sep 1973, vol. 1, Extended Abstracts, edited by J. de Boer and H. J. Mang, 177. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing, 1973.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Angular-Correlations Due to Bose Effects and Limits on Leading Particle Effects in E+E− Annihilation.” Bulletin of the American Physical Society 19(4) (1974), 541–42.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “On the Problem of Particle-Hole Symmetry in Even-Even Cd and Te Nuclei.” Journal of Physics A: General Physics 7(10) (1974), L121–L124.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. and A. S. Goldhaber. “Nuclear Moments of Inertia and the VMI Law.” 1974, International Conference on Nuclear Structure and Spectroscopy, Amsterdam, Sept. 9-13, 1974, edited by H. P. Blok and A. E. L. Dieperink, 182–85. Scholar’s Press, 1974.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. and C. B. Dover. “The Variable Moment of Inertia (VMI) Model and Theories of Nuclear Collective Motion.” Annual Review of Nuclear Science 26 (1976), 239–317.

Piel, W. F. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Level Scheme of 99Pd and a possible high-spin cascade in 99Rh.” Physical Review C 15 (1977), 287–91.

Chu, Y. Y. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Decay of Th234 to the Pa234 Isomers.” Physical Review C 17 (1979), 1507–9.

Goldhaber, A. S. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Electric and Dynamic Quadrupole Moments of Even-Even Nuclei.” Physical Review C 17 (1978), 1171–78.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Pseudomagic Nuclei.” Journal of Physics G: Nuclear Physics 5(11) (1979), L207–L211.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Erratum: Pseudomagic Nuclei (Journal of Physics G: Nuclear Physics (1979) 5 (L207–L211)).” Journal of Physics G: Nuclear Physics 6(3) (1980), 518, 413.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Pseudomagic Nuclei.” In Future Directions in Studies of Nuclei Far from Stability, edited by J. H. Hamilton, E. H. Spejewski, C. R. Bingham, and E. F. Zganjar, 239–44. New York: North Holland Publishing, 1980.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Present Status of the VMI and Related Models.” Nuclear Physics A 347 (1980), 1–2, 31–50.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “On the Problem of ‘Phase Transitions’ in Nuclear Structure.” In Interacting Bose-Fermi Systems in Nuclei: Proceedings of the Second Specialized Seminar on Interacting Bose-Fermi Systems in Nuclei, held June 12–19, 1980, in Erice, Sicily, edited by F. Iachello, 263–70. New York: Plenum Press, 1981.

Piel Jr., W. F., G. Scharff-Goldhaber, A. H. Lumpkin, Y. K. Lee, and D. C. Stromswold. “Level Schemes of Pd102 and Pd100.” Physical Review C 23 (1981), 708–32.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Band Structure and Nuclear Dynamics.” In Neutron-Capture Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy and Related Topics 1981. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Neutron-Capture Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy and Related Topics organised by the Institut Laue-Langevin and held at the Institut des Sciences Nucléaires, Grenoble, France, 7–11 September 1981, edited by T. von Egidy, F. Gonnenwein, and B. Maier, 89–103. Bristol: Institute of Physics, 1982.

Piel Jr., W. F., G. Scharff-Goldhaber, C. J. Lister, and B. J. Varley. “High-Spin States of Ru94 and Pd96.” Physical Review C 28 (1983), 209–18.

Yeh, T. R., D. D. Clark, G. Scharff-Goldhaber, et al. “High Resolution Measurements of Delayed Neutron Emission Spectra From Fission Products.” In Nuclear Data for Science and Technology: Proceedings of the International Conference Antwerp 6–10 September 1982, edited by K. H. Böckhoff, 261–64. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1983.

Scharff-Goldhaber, G. “Historical Perspective of the Relation between IBA and VMI at the Magic Limit: Two Opposing Views.” In International Workshop on Interacting Boson-Boson and Boson-Fermion Systems, Gull Lake, MI, USA, 28 May 1984, edited by O. Scholten, 364–76. Washington, D.C.: Department of Energy, 1984.

Piel Jr., W. F. and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “Level Schemes of Pd98 and Ru96.” Physical Review C 30 (1984), 902–10.

Piel Jr., W. F., G. Scharff-Goldhaber, C. J. Lister, and B. J. Varley. “High-Spin States of Rh97.” Physical Review C 33 (1986), 512–18.

Piel Jr., W. F., C. W. Beausang, D. B. Fossan, N. Xu, and G. Scharff-Goldhaber. “High-Spin States of 99Ag and 100Cd.” Physical Review C 37 (1988), 1067–76.

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Goldhaber, M.H. Gertrude Scharff-Goldhaber, 1911–1998: Nuclear Physicist Against the Odds. Phys. Perspect. 18, 182–208 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-016-0181-4

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