Helen Schaeffer Huff facts for kids

Helen Schaeffer Huff (1883 – January 19, 1913) was an American physicist. A physicist is a scientist who studies how the world works, focusing on things like energy, forces, and matter. She earned her PhD in physics from Bryn Mawr College in 1908. Her main study was physics, and she also studied mathematics. Her special project, called a dissertation, was about "The Electric Spark in a Magnetic Field."

Her Studies and Discoveries

While studying at Bryn Mawr, Helen Schaeffer Huff learned mathematics from Charlotte Scott. In 1905 and 1906, she visited the University of Göttingen in Germany. There, she attended physics classes.

She also did special research in Göttingen. She studied how certain elements, called rare earths, absorb light when they are mixed in different liquids. She worked with a professor named Woldemar Voigt. They published their findings in a science magazine called Physikalische Zeitschrift.

Bryn Mawr College has a special research award named after Helen Schaeffer Huff. This award helps other students do their own important research.

Her Family Life

Helen Schaeffer Huff's father was Nathan C. Schaeffer. He was an important person in education for the state of Pennsylvania. Helen had two brothers and four sisters.

Helen Schaeffer Huff married William B. Huff in August 1908. He was a physics professor at Bryn Mawr. They had two children who were born on December 29, 1912. Sadly, one of their children passed away shortly after birth. Helen Schaeffer Huff died at her home in Bryn Mawr on January 19, 1913.