Myriam Sarachik facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Myriam Sarachik
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Sarachik in 2019
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| Born |
Myriam Paula Morgenstein
August 8, 1933 Antwerp, Belgium
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| Died | October 7, 2021 (aged 88) Manhattan, New York, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Columbia University (M.S., 1957; Ph.D, 1960, physics) Barnard College (B.A., 1954, physics) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | City College of New York |
| Thesis | Penetration of magnetic fields through superconducting lead films (1960) |
| Doctoral advisor | Richard Garwin |
Myriam Paula Sarachik (August 8, 1933 – October 7, 2021) was a Belgian-born American experimental physicist. From 1996, she was a distinguished professor of physics at the City College of New York.
Early life and education
Myriam Paula Morgenstein was born on August 8, 1933, in Antwerp, Belgium. Her parents, Sarah (Segal) and Schloimo Morgenstein, were Orthodox Jews who fled Belgium in 1940 due to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II. In 1941, while attempting to cross the border between France and Spain, the family was apprehended and interned in Merignac, a concentration camp near Bordeaux. They were then transferred to Camp de la Lande near Tours. The family escaped the same year and were smuggled across the border between German-occupied France and Vichy France.
She spent the next five and a half years in Cuba as a refugee, where she attended school and learned Spanish and English. In 1947, Sarachik and her family were granted visas to enter the United States and they moved to New York.
She graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1950 and began studying at Barnard College the same year. Sarachik was awarded a B.A. in 1954. She received her M.S. at Columbia University in 1957, and her Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1960, where her advisor was Richard Garwin. Her Ph.D. research was on measuring the attenuation of a magnetic field by Type-I superconducting films. She published results from her doctoral research in Physical Review Letters and the IBM Journal of Research and Development the same year as she received her doctorate.
Academic career
While working at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1960s, Sarachik's experiments provided the first data that confirmed the Kondo effect.
Despite advice from mentors that becoming a housewife or part-time teacher might suit her better, Sarachik joined the physics department of the City College of New York as an assistant professor in 1964. Three years later, in 1967, she was elevated to associate professor. In 1971, she became a full professor. In 1996, City College honored her by naming her as distinguished professor of physics.
Sarachik's work was primarily in the field of low temperature condensed matter physics, in which she focused on molecular nanomagnets and novel phenomena in dilute two-dimensional electron systems. Some of her research sought to understand the conditions under which an insulator can become a conductor. Experiments of this type must be performed near absolute zero. Sarachik also researched the transport and magnetic properties of semiconductors and quantum tunnelling.
In 2020, Sarachik was awarded the American Physical Society (APS) Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research for her "contributions to the physics of electronic transport in solids and molecular magnetism". She was president of APS in 2003, and was awarded the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize in 2005. In 2008, she was elected to the governing council of the National Academy of Sciences.
She was active in defending the human rights of scientists as a member and chair of the Committee on the International Freedom of Scientists of the APS, a long-time member of the Human Rights of Scientists Committee of the New York Academy of Sciences, and a board member of the Committee of Concerned Scientists.
Honors and awards
Sarachik received the following honors:
- Member, National Academy of Sciences (elected 1994)
- Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (elected 1999)
- Fellow, American Physical Society
- Fellow, New York Academy of Sciences
- Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Recipient, 1995 NYC Mayor's Award for Excellence in Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences
- Recipient, 2004 Sloan Public Service Award from the Fund for the City of New York
- Recipient, 2005 L'Oréal/UNESCO For Women in Science Laureate for North America
- Recipient, 2005 APS Oliver E. Buckley Prize in Condensed Matter Physics
- Recipient, 2006 Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Amherst College
- Recipient, 2020 APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research
Personal life
In 1954, Myriam married Philip Sarachik, a professor of electrical engineering at New York University. They had two children. Sarachik died on October 7, 2021, in Manhattan at the age of 88.
See also
In Spanish: Myriam Sarachik para niños
