Brenda Winnewisser
3:30 PM, Wednesday November 28, 2012, Rm 128
The Life and Work of Hedwig Kohn: From the Kaiserreich to the Subbasement of the Duke Physics Building
Faculty Host: Roxanne Springer
(Hedwig Kohn - center)
Hedwig Kohn (1887-1964) was one of the pioneer women in physics. She was the third, and last, woman to attain the Habilitation (qualifcation for a professorship, and for formal lectures in the German-speaking part of Europe) up to WWII. All three of these women fled Nazi Germany, and remarkably two of then landed at Duke. Kohn was a respected experimental physicist, well-known in Germany between the two World Wars, and a dedicated and effective teacher. The talk will touch on how she contributed to the history of physics, how both science and world events impacted her life, how she dealt with challenges, and the response of various institutions and communities to her desperation in 1940.
Coffee and cookies before the presentation at 3:15 pm, and refreshments after the presentation will both be served in Room 128.