Leona Woods facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Leona Woods Marshall Libby
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Leona Woods Marshall at the University of Chicago in 1946
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| Born | August 9, 1919 La Grange, Illinois, United States
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| Died | November 10, 1986 (aged 67) Santa Monica, California, United States
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| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago |
| Known for | involvement in the Manhattan Project |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | |
| Doctoral advisor | Robert Mulliken |
| Other academic advisors | Stanisław Mrozowski |
Leona Harriet Woods (born August 9, 1919 – died November 10, 1986) was an amazing American physicist. She played a key role in building the world's first nuclear reactor and the first atomic bomb.
At just 23 years old, Leona was the youngest and only woman on the team. This team built and tested the first nuclear reactor, called Chicago Pile-1. Her mentor, Enrico Fermi, led this important project.
Leona was very important in building and using geiger counters. These tools helped measure radiation during experiments. She was the only woman present when the reactor first started working.
She worked with Fermi on the secret Manhattan Project. With her first husband, John Marshall, she helped solve a big problem. This problem was called xenon poisoning at the Hanford Site. This site produced plutonium for bombs. She also helped oversee the building and running of these reactors.
After the war, she continued her research at the University of Chicago. She later worked at other famous places like the Institute for Advanced Study. In 1962, she became a professor at New York University. Her research included high-energy physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.
Later in life, Leona became interested in the environment. She found a way to use tree rings to study climate change. She also strongly supported using food irradiation. This method helps kill harmful bacteria in food.
Early Life and Education
Leona Harriet Woods was born on a farm in La Grange, Illinois. This was on August 9, 1919. She was the second of five children. Her father, Weightstill Arno Woods, was a lawyer. Her mother was Mary Leona Holderness Woods.
Leona finished Lyons Township High School at just 14 years old. She then earned her science degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1938. She was only 18.
After her exams, she wanted to study with Nobel Prize winner James Franck. He warned her that being a woman in science might be hard. So, she chose to study with Robert Mulliken, who also later won a Nobel Prize.
Mulliken let her choose her own research topic. Her PhD paper was about "On the Silicon Oxide Bands." She finished it in 1943.
Working on the Manhattan Project
By 1942, Leona was finishing her studies. She was the youngest of Mulliken's students. All her classmates were already working on war projects. She met Herbert L. Anderson, who worked for Enrico Fermi.
Anderson learned that Leona was good with vacuum technology. As soon as she finished her PhD, he hired her. She worked with special detectors that measured neutron levels.
Fermi's team built the Chicago Pile-1 nuclear reactor. It was built under the stands of an old football stadium. Leona had played squash there before.
At first, some people didn't want a woman doing the "dirty work." But Leona had plenty of important tasks. She worked with detectors and other tools. She also used her skills in glassblowing to build neutron detectors.
Leona Woods was the only woman present when the reactor first became active. She famously asked Fermi, "When do we become scared?"
Laura Fermi, Enrico Fermi's wife, described Leona as "a tall young girl built like an athlete." She said Leona "could do a man's job and do it well."
Like many scientists, Leona was very focused on her work. She was exposed to some radiation during a task. Doctors gave her a lecture about it, but she focused on getting the job done right.
Leona married John Marshall in July 1943. Soon after, she became pregnant. She and Fermi decided not to tell their boss, Walter Zinn. They worried he would make her leave the reactor building. She hid her pregnancy with baggy work clothes. Her son, Peter, was born in 1944. She returned to work just a few days later.
A team from Argonne helped start the first reactor at the Hanford Site. This site would produce plutonium for bombs. Leona and John Marshall worked night shifts watching the reactor. They left their baby, Peter, with Leona's mother.
The reactor started well, but then its power dropped. Leona thought it might be a water leak. But later, the timing showed it was a radioactive poison. They figured out it was xenon-135. Luckily, the engineers had added extra fuel tubes. By using these, they got the reactor working again.
Years later, Leona was asked about her role in the Manhattan Project. She said everyone was afraid Germany would build the bomb first. She believed they did the right thing. She felt the atomic bombs helped end the war and save many lives. She had no regrets about her work.
After the War
After the war, Leona Marshall went back to the University of Chicago. She became a fellow at Fermi's Institute for Nuclear Studies. She found a way to make neutron beams fully spin polarized. She also studied how neutrons interact with different materials. Her second child, John Marshall III, was born in 1949.
After Fermi passed away in 1954, Leona and John Marshall separated. Leona, now a single mother, continued her research. She worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Then she moved to Brookhaven National Laboratory. In 1960, she became a professor at New York University.
In 1965, she became a professor at the University of Colorado. She researched high-energy physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. She then worked at RAND Corporation until 1976.
In 1966, she divorced John Marshall and married Willard Libby. He had won the Nobel Prize in 1960. She later joined him at UCLA. There, she became a visiting professor in environmental studies and engineering.
Now known as Leona Marshall Libby, she became very interested in the environment. She developed a way to study climate change using tree rings. By looking at different types of oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen in tree rings, she could learn about past temperatures and rainfall.
Like Willard Libby, she strongly believed in food irradiation. This process uses radiation to kill harmful bacteria in food. She thought it was a safe and effective way to protect food.
Leona was a very productive writer. She published over 200 scientific papers. She also wrote a book called The Uranium People (1979). This book was about the early days of atomic research. After Willard Libby died, she edited his papers. She published The Life Work of Nobel Laureate Willard Libby (1982). Her last paper was about quasi-stellar objects in 1984.
Leona Woods Marshall Libby passed away on November 10, 1986, in Santa Monica, California. She was survived by her two sons and four grandchildren.
See also
In Spanish: Leona Woods para niños
