Harriet brooks family biography roberts

Harriet Brooks was the first Canadian female nuclear physicist.

She is most famous for her research on nuclear transmutations and radioactivity. Ernest Rutherford, who guided her graduate work, regarded her as being next to Marie Curie in the calibre of her aptitude. She was among the first persons to discover radon and to try to determine its atomic mass.

Harriet Brooks was born in Exeter, Ontario, on July 2, 1876 to George and Elizabeth Warden Brooks.

She was the third of nine children.

Harriet brooks family biography roberts

Her father, George Brooks, worked at his own flour mill until it burned down and was not covered by insurance. He then supported the family by working as a commercial traveler for a flour firm. Brooks moved around Quebec and Ontario with her family during her chil