Quantum Physics

Quantum physics – which covers quantum, nuclear, particle, and relativity – owes many of its developments to minority physicists.

Quantum Mechanics

Elmer Imes - proved that rotational and vibrational energy levels are quantised

Satyendra Nath Bose - developed the foundation of Bose statistics

Mileva Marić - made contributions to the photoelectric effect

Chien-Shiung Wu - proved that parity is not conserved (Wu experiment)

Lucy Mensing - found the allowed values for orbital angular momentum

Serbian physicist and mathematician Mileva Marić is mainly known for having been Albert Einstein’s first wife, whom he abandoned for the US and to marry his first cousin. But only knowing this aspect of Marić’s story undermines the extent of her ability and (potential) contributions to physics. There is a fairly large debate centred around the extent to which Marić contributed—or perhaps even co-authored—Einstein’s supposed early work, including all four of the Annus Mirabilis papers. Most of the evidence relies on strings of testimonies and recovered letters between the two and friends. Irrespective of her contributions, this provides a fascinating insight into the treatment of women within physics around the turn of the 20th century.