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1 results

  • 6 - Laura Chalk and the Stark Effect

  • Edited by Patrick Charbonneau, Duke University, North Carolina, Michelle Frank, Margriet van der Heijden, Eindhoven University of Technology, Daniela Monaldi, York University, Toronto
  • Book:
    Women in the History of Quantum Physics
    Published online:
    02 July 2025
    Print publication:
    19 June 2025, pp 172-197

  • Summary

    Laura M. Chalk (later, Laura Rowles, 1904−1996) was the first woman to complete a PhD in physics at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Her doctoral research on the quantum phenomenon called the Stark effect, under the supervision of J. Stuart Foster, produced the earliest experimental test of Erwin Schrödinger’s wave mechanics. After a brief stint as a postdoctoral fellow at King’s College London, she chose to return home and dedicate herself to teaching and marriage. This paper aims to fully recover Chalk’s work and explore why the Foster−Chalk experiment was overlooked in physics historiography. It considers the Stark effect’s significance in quantum physics and the impact of gender on her personal trajectory. Shaped by personal choice, systemic discrimination, and acceptance of societal norms, Chalk Rowles’ story highlights the paradoxes faced by women in a culturally disembodied yet male-dominated field, and reflects broader themes of gender and identity in the history of women in physics.