Katherine Weimer

Katherine Ella Mounce Weimer (April 15, 1919 – April 23, 2000) was a research physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory at the Princeton University.[1] She is known for her scientific research in the field of plasma magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and contribution to stability theory of a magnetically confined plasma.[2]

Katherine E. M. Weimer
Born(1919-04-15)April 15, 1919
New Jersey, United States
DiedApril 23, 2000(2000-04-23) (aged 81)
Alma mater
Scientific career
FieldsPlasma physics
Institutions

Education

Originally from New Jersey, Weimer received a scholarship to Purdue University and got her B.Sc. in chemistry in 1939. Then she continued her education at the Ohio State University, switching her area of interest from chemistry to physics, and received her Ph.D. in physics in 1943. Her thesis was entitled "Artificial Radioactivity of Barium and Lanthanum" and supervised by Marion Llewellyn Pool.[1]

Katherine Weimer was the first woman Ph.D in physics at the Ohio State University.[3]

Scientific career

In 1957, Weimer joined the theory group at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. She was the first female research staff member at the laboratory and successfully developed her scientific career for 29 years at PPPL.[1] She conducted fundamental research in the field of plasma equilibrium and magnetohydrodynamic stability in the toroidal magnetic confinement devices, like tokamaks and stellarators.[2][4][5]

Scientific legacy

In 2001 the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics established the Katherine E. Weimer award to "recognize and encourage outstanding achievement in plasma science research by a woman physicist in the early years of her career."[6]

References
  1. Johnson, John L.; Greene, John M. (2007-01-12). "Katherine Ella Mounce Weimer". Physics Today. 53 (9): 88. doi:10.1063/1.1325250. ISSN 0031-9228.
  2. Greene, John M.; Johnson, John L.; Weimer, Katherine E. (1971-03-01). "Tokamak Equilibrium". The Physics of Fluids. 14 (3): 671–683. Bibcode:1971PhFl...14..671G. doi:10.1063/1.1693488. ISSN 0031-9171.
  3. "Celebrate International Women's day and the first woman PhD in Physics at OSU". physics.osu.edu. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  4. Johnson, J. L; Dalhed, H. E; Greene, J. M; Grimm, R. C; Hsieh, Y. Y; Jardin, S. C; Manickam, J; Okabayashi, M; Storer, R. G; Todd, A. M. M; Voss, D. E (1979-08-01). "Numerical determination of axisymmetric toroidal magnetohydrodynamic equilibria". Journal of Computational Physics. 32 (2): 212–234. Bibcode:1979JCoPh..32..212J. doi:10.1016/0021-9991(79)90129-3. ISSN 0021-9991.
  5. Anania, G.; Johnson, J. L.; Weimer, K. E. (1983-08-01). "Use of the stellarator expansion to investigate plasma equilibrium in stellarators". The Physics of Fluids. 26 (8): 2210–2218. Bibcode:1983PhFl...26.2210A. doi:10.1063/1.864417. ISSN 0031-9171.
  6. "Katherine Weimer - Division of Plasma Physics". apsdpp.org. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
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