Hertha Sponer

Hertha Sponer (1 September 1895 – 27 February 1968) was a German physicist and chemist who contributed to modern quantum mechanics and molecular physics and was the first woman on the physics faculty of Duke University.

Hertha Sponer
In 1926
Born	1 September 1895 Neisse, German Empire
Died	27 February 1968(1968-02-27) (aged 72) Ilten, West Germany
Nationality	German
Alma mater	University of Göttingen
Known for	Extensive work in quantum mechanics and molecular physics Birge-Sponer Method
Awards	1952-53 Guggenheim Fellow Fellow, New York Academy of Sciences Fellow, Optical Society of America Fellow, American Physical Society.
Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Institutions	University of Jena Duke University
Doctoral advisor	Peter Debye

Introduction

 “When talking about women's contribution to science, we can't stop at the most famous one.”(Francl, M, 2018)

 If we look away from Madame Curie and take a closer look at other women in the scientific community, it is clear that she is not the only woman who worked in the fields of nuclear chemistry and atomic physics in those years. Hertha Sponer (1 September 1895 – 27 February 1968) was a German physicist and chemist who contributed to modern quantum mechanics and molecular physics and was the first woman on the physics faculty of Duke University.

Life

Sponer was born in Neisse (Nysa), Prussian Silesia. In 1946, Hertha Sponer married her former mentor, science correspondent and friend James Franck, who had been widowed in 1941. They continue to live in their respective cities, so they only meet for a few weeks a year, mainly during visits or joint trips. Frank died suddenly during his short stay in Göttingen in 1964 at the age of 81. A year after his death, Sponser left Durham in 1966 to live in Celler with her nephew's family. In 1968, she died in a hospital near Ilten.

Education and Career

Sponser obtained her high school degree in Neisse.She spent a year at the University of Tübingen, and then she studied at the University of Göttingen and received her Ph.D.in 1920 under the supervision of Peter Debye. She was James Frank's assistant at University of Tübingen. In 1921, she and several other women became one of the first women to receive a Ph.D.in physics in Germany with the right to teach science at German universities. At first, some  people at the University of Göttingen opposed the appointment of Sponser with the right to teach at the University. When Franck later talked about the matter, he said that the opposition of those people was reminiscent of the situation when David Hilbert first won a formal position for Emmy Noether in Göttingen. David Hilbert failed, but Franck succeeded and Sponser finally won the teaching post In October 1925, she received a Rockefeller Foundation fellowship and stayed at the University of California, Berkeley, where she stayed for a year and  developed a method to determine the dissociation energy using the Birge spinner plot method together with Raymond Birge. 

By 1932, Spooner had published about 20 scientific papers in journals such as Nature and Physical Review, and became an associate professor of physics. In 1934, she was dismissed after Hitler came to power because of the Nazi stigmatization of women in academic circles. Sponser moved to Oslo and became a visiting professor at the University of Oslo. In 1936, she began teaching at Duke University until she became an Professor Emeritus in 1966 until her death.She spent more than 30 years of her remaining career there.

In her academic career, Spooner has conducted research in quantum mechanics, physics and chemistry. She wrote and published many studies, many of which were completed in cooperation with famous physicists, including Edward Teller. She has made many contributions to science, including the application of quantum mechanics to molecular physics and the study of near ultraviolet absorption spectra. She set up a spectrum laboratory in the Department of physics at Duke University and later moved to her new building.