Female scientist biography project

 “If I have come this far, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” – Sir Issac Newton

Hedwig Kohn provided shoulders we stand upon in the field of radiometry, the study and measurement of electromagnetic radiation, including UV, visible, and infrared light, radio waves and X-rays, and flame spectroscopy, which measures the amount of light absorbed when a sample is passed through a flame to determine its chemical composition.

Both are not subjects we customarily hear about, but both are stepping-stones to the sciences of plasma physics, nuclear fusion, and clinical diagnostic techniques, about which we hear lots. Without Dr. Kohn’s pioneering work, it’s doubtful we would have come so far so fast.

Sadly, I came upon Dr.

Kohn’s important work not in reviewing biographies of important physicists nor in accessing sources on women in science, where her c