The Google Doodle on June 18 marked pioneering Romanian physicist Ștefania Mărăcineanu’s birth anniversary. She was a key figure in the discovery and study of radioactivity.
Google’s Doodle was nod to her study of polonium -- a radioactive element discovered by Polish-French physicist Marie Curie.
Mărăcineanu was born in Bucharest in 1882. Not much is known about her childhood.
She grew up to study physical and chemical science at the University of Bucharest. After graduating in 1910, she began teaching at the same school she had attended – the Central School for Girls.
While teaching at the school, Mărăcineanu was granted a scholarship by the Romanian Ministry of Science. She used that to pursue graduate research at the Radium Institute in Paris.
The institute was being helmed by Marie Curie and quickly emerging as global centre for the study of radioactivity. There, Mărăcineanu began her PhD thesis on polonium.
Mărăcineanu’s research at the Radium Institute shed light on artificial radioactivity for the first time. In 1935, when Marie Curie’s daughter Irène Curie and her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie received a joint Nobel prize for discovering artificial radioactivity, Mărăcineanu demanded that her role be recognized too.
The Academy of Sciences of Romania recognised her work in 1936, appointing her as director of research. But she never attained global fame.
Mărăcineanu is remembered for founding Romania’ first laboratory for the study of Radioactivity. After thar, she spent her time researching artificial rain and study the link between earthquakes and rainfall.
Mărăcineanu became the first scientist to discover that before an earthquake, there was significant increase of radioactivity in the epicenter.
The physicist died in 1944. A significant part of her career -- her laboratory at the Radium Institute -- is to this date preserved at the Curie Museum in Paris.
Click Here:- Get Live Indian Share Market Tips From Sharetipsinfo