Amelia Frank

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Amelia Frank
A black-and-white picture of Amelia Frank from her undergraduate yearbook
Born(1906-03-04)March 4, 1906
Marion, Ohio[2]
DiedAugust 16, 1937(1937-08-16) (aged 31)
Adrian, Michigan[1]
Resting placeToledo, Ohio[2]
Alma materGoucher College, University of Wisconsin-Madison
SpouseEugene Wigner
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
InstitutionsUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison[1]
ThesisTemperature Variation of the Magnetic Susceptibility, Gyromagnetic Ratio, and Heat Capacity in Sm+++ and Eu+++
Doctoral advisorJohn H. Van Vleck

Amelia Zipora Frank (March 4, 1906 - August 16, 1937) was an American physicist known for her work in the quantum mechanics of magnetism. She was married to Nobel laureate Eugene Wigner.

Education and career

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Frank attended Goucher College for her undergraduate education, graduating in 1928. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa,[3]: 107  played on the hockey and baseball teams,[3]: 179 & 185  and was a member of the Physics Club.[4]

She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for her graduate studies. While there, she was Harriet Remington Laird Fellow in Physics.[5] She studied quantum mechanics, specifically in magnetism, under the guidance of her advisor John van Vleck. She focused on rare earth elements, whose strong magnetic properties could not be explained by then-existing theories. Her thesis, Temperature Variation of the Magnetic Susceptibility, Gyromagnetic Ratio, and Heat Capacity in Sm+++ and Eu+++, showed that quantum corrections were necessary to explain the experimental behavior of samarium.[1] More than forty years later, van Vleck would cite her thesis in his Nobel lecture.[6] Frank received her PhD in 1935.[a]

After graduating, Frank worked as a tutor at Wisconsin-Madison and continued her research in crystal field theory with van Vleck. In 1935, during the Great Depression, she was forced to take jobs typing and cooking. She ultimately resigned from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in October of 1936.[1]

Personal life

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Frank was born in 1906 in Marion, Ohio to Anna and Louis Frank, a Lithuanian couple[2] who owned a junkyard.[1] She was Jewish, though not very observant.[9]

While a student, she was flatmates with Mary Bunting.[1]

Frank left her position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to pursue a relationship with Eugene Wigner.[1] The pair married on December 23, 1936.[9]

Frank fell ill from an unknown cause only a few weeks after the wedding. Wigner claims it was heart disease,[9][10] though other sources, including her death certificate, claim it was cancer.[1][2] After several months in the hospital, she returned to her parents' house in Michigan, where she died in August 1937.[1][9]

References

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  1. ^ She was listed with a BA in the 1934-1935 Bulletin,[7] but with a PhD in the 1935-1936 Bulletin.[8] She therefore must have received her PhD in 1935.
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wise, Beck; Jacobson, Peter (21 December 2025). "Who was Amelia Frank? The life of a forgotten physicist". The Conversation. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d Howard, Hessin. "Certificate of Death". Michiganology. Michigan Department of Health: Disease Control, Records and Statistics Division. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
  3. ^ a b Donnybrook Fair 1928. Goucher College. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  4. ^ "Goucher Weekly (Vol. 11 no. 13) February 17, 1927". Goucher College Weekly. February 17, 1927. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  5. ^ Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin General Announcement of Courses 1933-1934. University of Wisconsin-Madison. p. 646. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
  6. ^ John, van Vleck. "Quantum Mechanics The Key to Understanding Magnetism" (PDF). nobelprize.org. The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 24 December 2025.
  7. ^ Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin General Announcement of Courses 1934-1935. University of Wisconsin-Madison. p. xxxv. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
  8. ^ Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin General Announcement of Courses 1935-1936. University of Wisconsin-Madison. p. xxxvii. Retrieved 25 December 2025.
  9. ^ a b c d Szanton, Andrew (1992). The Recollections of Eugene P. Wigner as told to Andrew Szanton. New York: Plenum Press. p. 177-179. ISBN 978-0-306-44326-8.
  10. ^ Wigner, Eugene (1992). The Collected Works of Eugene Wigner. New York: Springer-Verlag. p. 9. ISBN 978-3-642-08154-5. Retrieved 25 December 2025.