Marion Ross (physicist): Difference between revisions

SheRoss was born in [[Edinburgh]] and was, one of the five daughters of William Baird Ross, organist, composer and founder of [[The Edinburgh Society of Organists]] (ESO). The family lived at 22 Royal Crescent in [[New Town, Edinburgh|Edinburgh's Second New Town]].<ref>Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1903</ref>

After being educated at Edinburgh Ladies' College, Marion Ross studied [[Mathematicsmathematics]] and [[Naturalnatural Philosophyphilosophy]] at the [[Edinburgh University of Edinburgh]], receiving prestigious bursaries in Mathematicsmathematics, and graduating with honours. Ross then studied at teacher training college in Cambridge for one year and taught mathematics in a secondary school in Woking, Surrey for two years .<ref name="RSE obit"/> In 1928, she took up a post as Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of Edinburgh, and instigated a course in [[Acousticsacoustics]] for music students.

In the [[Second World War]] she was a very rare example of a female scientist working for the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]]. Based at [[Rosyth]] docks she led a team largely involved in underwater acoustics and [[Fluid dynamics|hydrodynamics]].<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0 -902 -198 -84 -X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=14 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Her work with [[Charles Glover Barkla|Professor C. G. Barkla]] resulted in her being awarded a PhD in 1943.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Spence|first=Ross, Marion Amelia|date=1943|title=Scattering and filtering of heterogeneous x-rays by matter of small atomic weight|urllanguage=http://en|hdl.handle.net/=1842/24283|journal=|language=en|volume=|pages=|via=Edinburgh Research Archive}}</ref>.

For one year, she worked under the direction of [[William Lawrence Bragg]] at the [[Manchester University of Manchester]], and together with [[Arnold Beevers]], explored the structure of the crystal [[Beta Alumina]].<ref name="ZfK">{{cite journal| last1=Beevers |first1=C. A. |first2=M. A. S. | last2=Ross | title=The crystal structure of "Beta Alumina" Na2O 11Al(2)O3 | journal=Zeitschrift für Kristallographie| date=July 1937| volume=97| issue=1/2| pages=59–66 | doi=10.1524/zkri.1937.97.1.59|s2cid=102121580 }}</ref> They noted there were 'problem' sites in the areas occupied by mobile sodium ions. Subsequently, the very presence of these ions was discovered to make this crystal an efficient [[superconductor]]. As a tribute to their discovery, the locations of these ions are now known as ''Beevers–Ross'' and ''anti-Beevers–Ross sites''.<ref name="beevers">{{cite web| url=http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/obits_alpha/beevers_cecil.pdf | title=Cecil Arnold Beevers | work=Crystallography News | publisher=[[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] | year=2001 | accessdateaccess-date=28 March 2014 }}</ref>

After the war she returned to the University of Edinburgh as a Lecturerlecturer, studying high-energy particle spectra. She was the first Director of Edinburghthe University's Fluid Dynamics Unit. Some of her work was published in the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''.<ref name="Nature 1949">{{cite journal|last1=Ross | first1=M. A. S. | first2=B. |last2=Zajac|title=Range-energy and other relations for electrons in Kodak nuclear plates|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |year=1948 |volume=162 |issue=4128 |pages=923–923923|doi=10.1038/162923a0|bibcode=1948Natur.162..923R| s2cid=4124792 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In 1951 she became a [[Fellow (society)|Fellow]] of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]], two years after the first female Fellows were admitted. Her proposers were [[Norman Feather]], [[Max Born]], [[Alexander Aitken]] and Sir [[Edmund Taylor Whittaker|Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker]]. She was the first female Secretary to the Society (1993/4).<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbnname=":0" 902 198 84 X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf}}</ref>

Ross was elected to University Court for session 1967-68, one of the first non-Professorial members of staff to serve. Her contributions to the University were rewarded with a Readership, and her success was particularly notable given the male-dominated nature of the profession.<ref name="RSE obit"/> On her retirement, the annually awarded ''Marion A S Ross Prize''<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/student-funding/current-students/university-prizes-awards/science-engineering/physics|title=Physics scholarships and prizes|work=The University of Edinburgh|access-date=2018-07-29|language=en}}</ref> was founded in her name. In 2014 a street at the University's [[King's Buildings|Kings Buildings]] campus was named in her honour.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Holden|first1=John-Paul|title=New streets honour Edinburgh thinkers|url=http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/education/new-streets-honour-edinburgh-thinkers-1-3542998|agency=Edinburgh Evening News|date=16 September 2014}}</ref>

Outside her professional life, Ross had a wide range of interests, including literature, art, music, and politics. She was particularly interested in the [[Organ (music)|organ]] that her father had designed for the Holy Rude Church, Stirling, where he was the organist, and where Ross herself sang in the choir.

[[Category:PeopleScientists from Edinburgh]]

[[Category:WomenScottish women physicists]]

[[Category:20th-century British women scientists]]