Google doodle celebrates the 140th birth anniversary of Romanian physicist Stefania Maracineanu. Ștefania Mărăcineanu was one of the pioneering women in the discovery and research of radioactivity.
She was born in Bucharest, the daughter of Sebastian Mărăcineanu and Sevastia, both 20 years old. Not much is known about her personal life, only that she had an unhappy childhood. She completed high school at the Central School for Girls in her native city. In 1907, she enrolled at the University of Bucharest, receiving her degree in physical and chemical sciences in 1910. Her senior thesis, titled Light interference and its application to wavelength measurement, earned her a 300 lei prize. After graduation, she taught at high schools in Bucharest, Ploiești, Iași, and Câmpulung. In 1915, she secured a teaching position at the Central School for Girls in Bucharest, a position she held until 1940- Wikipedia.com
Mărăcineanu graduated with a physical and chemical science degree in 1910, starting her career as a teacher at the Central School for Girls in Bucharest. While there, Mărăcineanu earned a scholarship from the Romanian Ministry of Science. She decided to pursue graduate research at the Radium Institute in Paris.
During her research on the half-life of polonium, Mărăcineanu noticed that the half-life seemed dependent on the type of metal it was placed on. This got her wondering if the alpha rays from the polonium had transferred some atoms of the metal into radioactive isotopes. Her research led to what is most likely the first example of artificial radioactivity.
