Book contents
- Women in the History of Quantum Physics
- Women in the History of Quantum Physics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 The Spectrum of He+ as a Proving Ground for Bohr’s Model of the Atom: A Legacy of Williamina Fleming’s Astrophysical Discovery
- 2 H. Johanna van Leeuwen, the Other Scientist behind the Bohr–Van Leeuwen Theorem
- 3 Hertha Sponer, Maven of Quantum Spectroscopy
- 4 Angular and Career Momentum: What Lucy Mensing Contributed to Physics and Why She Left the Field
- 5 Discouraging Jane: Dewey Among the Lucky Generation of US Physicists
- 6 Laura Chalk and the Stark Effect
- 7 Elizabeth Monroe Boggs: From Quantum Chemistry to the Manhattan Project
- 8 Excelsior! John Wheeler, Katharine Way, and the Role of Women in the Exploration of the Microcosm
- 9 Sonja Ashauer from São Paulo to Cambridge: A Journey to Quantum Electrodynamics
- 10 Untangling Entanglement History: Early Quantum Contributions of Chien-Shiung Wu
- 11 From Quantum Physics to Ethics: Grete Hermann on Heisenberg’s Cut
- 12 Women Take the Lead: A Physics Laboratory Under the Dictatorship in Portugal, 1940s–1960s
- 13 Carolyn Parker’s Electronic Frequencies
- 14 The Chew–Low–Salzman Method and Freda Friedman Salzman: A Physicist Between Nuclear and Social Interactions
- 15 Out of the Ivory Tower: Maria Lluïsa Canut and X-Ray Crystallography
- 16 Ana María Cetto Kramis: Light in Quantum Mechanics and Open Science
- Index
- References
6 - Laura Chalk and the Stark Effect
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 July 2025
Book contents
- Women in the History of Quantum Physics
- Women in the History of Quantum Physics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 The Spectrum of He+ as a Proving Ground for Bohr’s Model of the Atom: A Legacy of Williamina Fleming’s Astrophysical Discovery
- 2 H. Johanna van Leeuwen, the Other Scientist behind the Bohr–Van Leeuwen Theorem
- 3 Hertha Sponer, Maven of Quantum Spectroscopy
- 4 Angular and Career Momentum: What Lucy Mensing Contributed to Physics and Why She Left the Field
- 5 Discouraging Jane: Dewey Among the Lucky Generation of US Physicists
- 6 Laura Chalk and the Stark Effect
- 7 Elizabeth Monroe Boggs: From Quantum Chemistry to the Manhattan Project
- 8 Excelsior! John Wheeler, Katharine Way, and the Role of Women in the Exploration of the Microcosm
- 9 Sonja Ashauer from São Paulo to Cambridge: A Journey to Quantum Electrodynamics
- 10 Untangling Entanglement History: Early Quantum Contributions of Chien-Shiung Wu
- 11 From Quantum Physics to Ethics: Grete Hermann on Heisenberg’s Cut
- 12 Women Take the Lead: A Physics Laboratory Under the Dictatorship in Portugal, 1940s–1960s
- 13 Carolyn Parker’s Electronic Frequencies
- 14 The Chew–Low–Salzman Method and Freda Friedman Salzman: A Physicist Between Nuclear and Social Interactions
- 15 Out of the Ivory Tower: Maria Lluïsa Canut and X-Ray Crystallography
- 16 Ana María Cetto Kramis: Light in Quantum Mechanics and Open Science
- Index
- References
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.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Women in the History of Quantum PhysicsBeyond <i>Knabenphysik</i>, pp. 172 - 197Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Bell, Robert E. 1966. John Stuart Foster. Biographical memoir. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 12, 147–161. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1966.0006Google Scholar
Bradbury, Bettina. 1990. Molson, Anne. In Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume XII 1891–1900. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/molson_anne_12E.htmlGoogle Scholar
Brush, Stephen G. 1994. Dynamics of theory change. Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, 2, 133–145. https://www.jstor.org/stable/192924Google Scholar
Brush, Stephen G. 2015. Making 20th Century Science: How Theories Became Knowledge. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chalk, M. Laura. 1926. Potential Distributions in the Crookes Dark Space and Relative Intensities of Stark Effect Components of Hβ and He λ 4922. MSc Thesis. Montreal: McGill University Library.Google Scholar
Chalk, M. Laura. 1928. Observed Relative Intensities of Stark Components in Hydrogen. PhD Thesis. Montreal: McGill University Library.Google Scholar
Chalk, M. Laura. 1930. The spectrum of H2: the bands ending on 2p1Π. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A, 128(808), 579–587. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1930.0132Google Scholar
Crossfield, E. Tina. 1997. Allie Vibert Douglas (1894–1988): astrophysicist, astronomer. In Shearer, Benjamin F. and Shearer, Barbara S. (eds.), Notable Women in the Physical Sciences. A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, pp. 69−76.Google Scholar
Duncan, Anthony and Janssen, Michel. 2014. The trouble with orbits: the Stark effect in the old and the new quantum theory. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 48, 68–83.10.1016/j.shpsb.2014.07.008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncan, Anthony and Janssen, Michel. 2015. The Stark effect in the Bohr–Sommerfeld theory and in Schrödinger’s wave mechanics. In Aaserud, Finn and Kragh, Helge (eds.), One Hundred Years of the Bohr Atom. Proceedings From a Conference. Scientia Danica. Series M, Volume 1. Copenhagen: Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, pp. 217–271. Also available at arXiv:1404.5341v1. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1404.5341Google Scholar
Duncan, Anthony and Janssen, Michel. 2019. Constructing Quantum Mechanics. Volume 1. The Scaffold, 1900–1923. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780198845478.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, Paul S. 1926. The Stark effect from the point of view of Schrödinger’s quantum theory. Physical Reviews, 28, 695–710. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.28.695CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fara, Patricia. 2006. Women or just good scientists? Nature, 44(30), 548. https://doi.org/10.1038/444548aCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J. Stuart. 1925. The Stark effect for Hβ and He λ4686. Astrophysical Journal, 63, 229–237.10.1086/142930CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J. Stuart. 1927a. Stark patterns observed in helium. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 114, 47–66. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1927.0024Google Scholar
Foster, J. Stuart. 1927b. Application of quantum mechanics to the Stark effect in helium. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 117, 137–163. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1927.0171Google Scholar
Foster, J. Stuart. 1930. Some leading features of the Stark effect. Journal of the Franklin Institute, 209, 585–624. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-0032(30)90851-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J. Stuart. 1938. Spectroscopy III: the Stark effect and some related phenomena. Reports on Progress in Physics, 5, 233–241. https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/5/1/320CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J. Stuart and Chalk, M. Laura. 1926. Observed relative intensities of Stark components in hydrogen, Nature, 118(2973), 592. https://doi.org/10.1038/118592b0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J. Stuart and Chalk, M. Laura. 1928. Observed relative intensities of Stark components of Hα. Nature, 121(3056), 830–831. https://doi.org/10.1038/121830b0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, J. Stuart and Chalk, M. Laura. 1929. Relative intensities of Stark components in hydrogen. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A, 123(791), 108–118. https://www.jstor.org/stable/95096Google Scholar
Foster, J. Stuart and Snell, Hawley. 1937. The Stark effect in hydrogen and deuterium. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A, 162, 349–356. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1937.0186Google Scholar
Gillett, Margaret and Beer, Ann (eds.). 1995. Our Own Agendas. Autobiographical Essays by Women Associated with McGill University. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gingras, Yves. 1981. La physique à McGill entre 1920 et 1940: la réception de la mécanique quantique par une communauté scientifique périphérique. History of Science and Technology in Canada Bulletin, 5, 1, 15–39. https://doi.org/10.7202/800094arGoogle Scholar
Gingras, Yves. 1991. Physics and the Rise of Scientific Research in Canada. Translated from the French by Keating, Peter. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.10.1515/9780773562813CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonsalves, Allison J. and Danielsson, Anna T. 2020. Introduction: why do we need identity in physics education research? In Gonsalves, Allison J. and Danielsson, Anna T. (eds.), Physics Education and Gender: Identity as an Analytic Lens for Research. New York: Springer, pp. 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41933-2_1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gosztonyi Ainley, Marianne. 2012. Creating Complicated Lives. Women and Science at English-Canadian Universities, 1880–1980. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.10.1515/9780773587953CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Götschel, Helene. 2014. No space for girliness in physics: understanding and overcoming the masculinity of physics. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 9, 531–537. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-012-9479-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harding, Sandra, The Science Question in Feminism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1986.Google Scholar
Heisenberg, Werner. 1926. Mehrkörperproblem und Resonanz in der Quantenmechanik. Zeitschrift für Physik, 38, 411–426. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01397160CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heisenberg, Werner. 1963. Interview of Werner Heisenberg by Thomas S. Kuhn, Session VI, February 19, 1963 and Session VIII, February 25, 1936. Niels Bohr Library & Archives. https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4661–6 and https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4661–8Google Scholar
Heisenberg, Werner. 1967. Quantum theory and its interpretation. In Rozental, Stefan (ed.), Niels Bohr. His Life and Work as Seen by His Friends and Colleagues. New York: Interscience Publishers.Google Scholar
Jammer, Max. 1966. The Conceptual Development of Quantum Mechanics. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Keller, Helen F. 1985. Reflections on Gender and Science. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kojevnikov, Alexei. 2020. The Copenhagen Network. The Birth of Quantum Mechanics from a Postdoctoral Perspective. New York: Springer.10.1007/978-3-030-59188-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kragh, Helge. 2012. Niels Bohr and the Quantum Atom: The Bohr Model of Atomic Structure, 1913–1925. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuhn, Thomas S. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
The Montreal Gazette. 1996. Laura Rowles. Obituary. The Montreal Gazette, February 17, E:14.Google Scholar
Leone, Matteo, Paoletti, Alessandro, and Robotti, Nadia. 2004. A simultaneous discovery: the case of Johannes Stark and Antonino Lo Surdo. Physics in Perspective, 6, 271–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-003-0170-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lloyd, Genevieve. 1993. The Man of Reason: “Male” and “Female” in Western Philosophy, 2nd ed. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Marshall, Joan. 2000. News from the Macdonald Campus (MAC). The MSE Newsletter, 1, 4–5.Google Scholar
Nicholson, John W. and Merton, Thomas R. 1916. On the distribution of intensity in broadened spectrum lines. Philosophical Transactions A, 216, 459–488. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.1916.0010Google Scholar
Ottemo, Andreas, Gonsalves, Alison J., and Danielsson, Anna T. 2021. (Dis)embodied masculinity and the meaning of (non)style in physics and computer engineering education. Gender and Education, 33, 8, 1017–1032. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2021.1884197CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pauli, Wolfgang. 1926. Über das Wasserstoffspektrum vom Standpunkt der neuen Quantenmechanik. Zeitschrift für Physik, 36, 336–363. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01450175CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prentice, Alison. 2006. A blackboard in her kitchen: women and physics at University of Toronto. Scientia Canadiensis, 29(2), 17–44.10.7202/800518arCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramos, Thomas F. 2019. Call Me Johnny. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory LLNL-BOOK-783447, July 26. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1576166Google Scholar
Rayner-Canham, Marelene and Rayner-Cahnam, Geoff. 1992. Harriet Brooks, Pioneer Nuclear Scientist. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.10.1515/9780773563186CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowles, William. 1928. The Stark Effect in Complex Spectra. PhD Thesis. Montreal: McGill University Library.Google Scholar
Rowles, Laura. 1995. Long experience and a happy existence. In Gillett, Margaret and Beer, Ann (eds.), Our Own Agendas. Autobiographical Essays by Women Associated with McGill University. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, pp. 33–46. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780773565593-006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schiebinger, Londa. 1999. Has Feminism Changed Science? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schrödinger, Erwin. 1926. Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem. Dritte Mitteilung: Störungstheorie, mit Anwendung auf den Starkeffekt der Balmerlinien. Annalen der Physik, 80(13), 437–490.10.1002/andp.19263851302CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schrödinger, Erwin. 1952. Are there quantum jumps? Part II. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 3(11), 233–242. https://www.jstor.org/stable/685266CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snell, John F. 1963. Macdonald College of McGill University. A History from 1904–1955. Montreal: McGill University Press.10.2307/j.ctt1w1vmvcCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Jerry. 1984. John Stuart Foster, McGill University, and the renascence of nuclear physics in Montreal, 1935–1950. Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences, 14(2), 357–377. https://doi.org/10.2307/27757537CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traweek, Sharon. 1988. Beamtimes and Lifetimes: The World of High Energy Physicists. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.10.4159/9780674044449CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.