Lídia Salgueiro

KEYWORDS: Lídia Salgueiro, Experimental Physics, Atomic Physics, Center for Physics Studies

 SHE THOUGHT IT

Lídia Coelho Salgueiro was a pioneer in the areas of Experimental Physics and Atomic Physics. She graduated in Physics and Chemistry in 1941 and did her Ph.D. under Valadares’ supervision in 1945 at the College of Sciences of Lisbon with the thesis entitled “Gamma Spectrum of Long-life Derivatives of Radon.”In the same year, she was hired by the College of Sciences of Lisbon as Assistant Professor. The importance and originality of her experimental work with gamma radiation in the field of Atomic and Nuclear Physics placed her in the spotlight of the scientific community.

Over the years, she supervised several doctorates, the first in 1954, by José Gomes Ferreira, who would later become her husband and work partner. Her mainly concern was to implement a fecund scientific environment to promote scientific research practice and prepare young students to reach their full potential. Lídia Salgueiro made such an impact in the Center for Physics Studies that teaching and researching would become complementary activities.

Lídia Salgueiro produced dozens of works with international repercussion and was a honorary partner of the Portuguese Society of Physics. In 1981, she was elected as Associate Fellow of the Science Section of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, “thereupon breaking the centuries-long tradition of all-male membership of said Academy, founded in 1799” (Santos/Auretta, 2010: 122).

She was also a member of the Editorial Board of the Portuguese scientific journal Portugaliae Physica, dedicated to the dissemination of research work in Physics, and in 1946, she joined the group of founders of the journal Gazeta de Física.

In 1974, Lídia Salgueiro would become a Full Professor at the College of Sciences of Lisbon. Two years later, she would found the Atomic Physics Center of the University of Lisbon.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Lídia Salgueiro, 1951

Lídia Coelho Salgueiro was the daughter of João F. da Fonseca da Rocha Salgueiro and Maria Angelica Pina Coelho Salgueiro. Born in Lisbon on December 31st, 1917, her childhood and youth were e troubled due to economic difficulties, especially after her father’s premature death at the age of 35, when she was only 5 years old. She started high school in Lisbon at Maria Amália High School and, two years later, she moved with her family to Viseu, where she completed her high school studies at Alves Martins Central High School.

She began her undergraduate studies at the University of Coimbra, but later on she requested a transfer to Lisbon and graduated with distinction in Physics and Chemistry at the College of Sciences of Lisbon, in 1941. In the following year, as a teaching assistant at the university, she became part of the Center for Physics Studies of the College of Sciences of Lisbon, a pioneer institution of scientific research in Portugal. As a teaching assistant at the Laboratory of Physics of the University of Lisbon, Lídia Salgueiro was the second woman to be awarded a Ph.D. in physical sciences by the University of Lisbon (Gaspar/Simões, 2011: 328). She was also a member of the Board of Referees for the Portuguese scientific journal Portugaliae Physica, dedicated to the transmission and diffusion of science, and joined, in 1946, the group of founders of the journal Gazeta de Física.

Lídia Salgueiro’s work contributed significantly to the development of the Center for Physics Studies, previously focused mostly on teaching, so that the Center could function as an internationally recognized research center, paving the way for the scientific training of numerous researchers.

As the Center was constrained by a tight budget, Lídia Salgueiro contributed to solving those problems by assembling and adapting the laboratory equipment, so that they could have the means to conduct scientific activities and to achieve relevant results. By reutilizing equipment and adjusting old equipment to serve to new purposes, she created the conditions to develop her work on g-radiation. “Salgueiro studied the transmutation RaD (²¹⁰Pb) ®RaE (²¹⁰Bi) by spectrography of the g-radiation spectrum […] and discovered a new radiation of wavelength 396 UX. This experimental research became the core of Salgueiro’s Ph.D. thesis”. (Gaspar/Simões, 2011: 328-329).In 1945, under the supervision of Manuel Valadares, she obtained her Ph.D. with a dissertation entitled “Gamma Spectrum of Long-life Derivatives of Radon”. She dedicated her doctoral project to her mother. The collaboration of Lídia Salgueiro and Manuel Valadares resulted in various scientific publications.

Manuel Valadares, who was sent to Paris to work at the Curie Laboratory and obtained his doctorate in 1933 under the supervision of Marie Curie, played an important role in the establishmentof atomic and nuclear research at the Physics Laboratory of the College of Sciences of the University of Lisbon.

This intense scientific activity was brutally interrupted in 1947 by a decision of the Council of Ministers of the Salazar regime, which removed twenty-one professors from Portuguese Universities, three of them from the Department of Physics, including Manuel Valadares. Facing exile, Valadares moved to Paris, following an invitation by Irène Joliot-Curie. His merit led him to hold several scientific positions, and he was later promoted to Director of the Centre deSpéctrométrie Nucléaire et de Spéctrométrie de Masse. He was the first foreign director of a CNRS center in France (Carvalho, 2009: 26).

Despite this turn of events, Lídia Salgueiro produced dozens of works of international renown and was a honorary member of the Portuguese Society of Physics. As a Professor at the Department of Physics of the College of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Salgueiro displayed an outstanding pioneering spirit in the field of Atomic Physics.

Lídia Salgueiro, 2006

She attended the meeting of the Physical Society held in Edinburgh in 1956, collaborating in the Nuclear Spectroscopy section. From 1956 to 1957, José Gomes Ferreira and Lídia Salgueiro worked as interns at the Department of Natural Philosophy of the University of Edinburgh, under the direction of N. Feather.

However, only in 1974 would Lídia Salgueiro become a Full Professor at the College of Sciences of Lisbon. Two years later, she would found the Atomic Physics Center of the University of Lisbon.

She retired in 1978 for health reasons. From that date, she devoted herself only to scientific research and in 1981, she was elected unanimously as Associate Fellow of the Science Section of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences.

Lídia Salgueiro died on the 24^thof July, 2009 at the age of 91, leaving a vast number of published works. Her scientific legacy was broadly recognized.

SHE SAID IT

My mother, on Sundays, used to send me to buy a steak, which made Sunday a very special day, because at that time it was my favorite dish. She always pretended she didn’t like it, so that we didn’t spend a lot of money.

Carvalho, Luísa. (2009) “Evocando a figura de Lídia Coelho Salgueiro” in Gazeta da Física, Vol.31. n.4 , p. 24.

The Dr … and my history teacher wrote me a lot of letters of recommendation to send them to several university professors in Coimbra. This was very usual at that time. The letters gave the best references about me, but as I’ve always hated this kind of procedure, they went all straight to the trash.

Carvalho, Luísa. (2009) “Evocando a figura de Lídia Coelho Salgueiro” in Gazeta da Física, Vol.31. n.4 , p. 24.

THEY SAID IT

She was always engaged in setting up work teams, and deemed it necessary that each member should not lose their identity, their judgment and their freedom.

Carvalho, Luísa. (2009) “Evocando a figura de Lídia Coelho Salgueiro” in Gazeta da Física, Vol.31. n.4 , p. 29.

Her stature as an independent-minded researcher and avid supporter of successive generations of researchers, as well as her devotion to the diffusion of scientific knowledge in Portugal, served to establish her as a highly singular voice and presence in twentieth-century Portuguese science.

António Manuel Nunes dos Santos, Christopher Damien Auretta (2010) “A significant Break in Tradition: the Election of the First Woman to the Sciences Section of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences” In Jornadas de Física por ocasião da jubilação do Professor Rui Namorado Rosa, p.128-129.

Through her multifaceted and dynamic career, Professor Salgueiro has for generations stood out as a prestigious scientist (achieving ultimately full recognition by her male colleagues), rightfully elected to an academic institution that had long neglected the contributions of female scientists.

António Manuel Nunes dos Santos, Christopher Damien Auretta (2010) “A significant Break in Tradition: the Election of the First Woman to the Sciences Section of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences” In Jornadas de Física por ocasião da jubilação do Professor Rui Namorado Rosa, p.129.

PRIZES, ACHIEVEMENTS, HONOURS

1961 – The Academy of Sciences had honored her with the “Arthur Malheiros” Prize, received in “ex aequo” for her work entitled “A Contribution to the Study of the Desintegration Scheme of ²²⁹Th, with Nuclear Plates.”

INTERTEXTUAL MATERIALS

Exhibition And Yet, They Move! Women and Science [E contudo, elas movem-se! Mulheres e Ciência], Rectorate of the University of Porto, Portugal, 10-29 September, 2019. [an illustration of Lídia Salgueiro by Miguel Praça is displayed at the exhibition].

E contudo, elas movem-se! Mulheres e Ciência (com poemas) (2019), Org. Ana Luísa Amaral e Marinela Freitas. Porto: U.Porto Edições [the book contains a short bio on Lídia Salgueiro, as well as an illustration by Miguel Praça].

Poster of the exhibition “And Yet, They Move! Women and Science”. © Miguel Praça

WORKS BY LÍDIA SALGUEIRO

Salgueiro, Lídia, (1944) “Spetrographie du rayonnement g émis par le dépôt actif à évolution lente du radon” Portugalae Physica : 67-72.

Salgueiro, Lídia (1945), Espectro gama dos derivados de vida longa do Radão, Tese apresentada à Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Doutor, p.28

Salgueiro, Lídia, (1946) “Ensino Superior da Física. Ensino prático da Física F. Q. N.”. Vol. I, Fasc. 1 Gazeta de Física.

Salgueiro, Lídia (1947), “Distribuição de depósito radioactivo sobre placas metálicas”, Gazeta de Física, 1 (3).

Salgueiro, Lídiaand Manuel Valadares, (1949), “Les spectres L et gamma émis par la transmutation RaD ®RaE,” Portugalae Physica3 (1949): 21-28.

Salgueiro, Lídia (1950), “Micro-radiografias por reflexão e por transmissão”, Gazeta de Física2(2), Jan. 1950.

Salgueiro, Lídia, “Fundamentos físicos da microscopia electrónica” – Med. Contemp.74, 3 (1956).

Salgueiro, Lídia (1956), “Evolução da radioactividade até à descoberta da cisão nuclear”, Ciência3 (1964).

Salgueiro, Lídia (1972), “Fundamentos dos processos de emissão e absorção de radiação X”, Gazeta de Física5(5), Mar. 1972.

Salgueiro, Lídia (1978): Vida e obra de Manuel Valadares, Gazeta de Física, vol.VI, 2-12.

Salgueiro, Lídia (1984), “O Laboratório de Física da Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa, no período de 1930-54”, Revista dos Estudantes de Física da F.C.L. 1 (1984).

Salgueiro, Lídia (1984), “Radiações satélites “escondidas” (hidden satellites) de alta energia em espectros L de Raios X”, Comunicaçãoapresentada à Classe de Ciências da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa na sessão de 24 de Maio de 1984, 7-20, p.7.

Salgueiro, Lídia (1987), “Breve evocação de Niels Bohr”, Memórias da Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, T. XXVIII, 1 (1987).

Salgueiro, Lídia (1991), “The story of light theories by stamps”, Philatelia Chimica et Physica, 13(3), 20 (1991).

Salgueiro, Lídia (1995), “Descoberta e natureza dos raios X”, Gazeta de Física, 18(3) (1995).

Salgueiro, Lídia (1996), “Os primeiros anos da descoberta da radioactividade”, Gazeta de Física19(2) (1996).

Salgueiro, Lídia (1997) A Epopeia do começo da  Gazeta de Física. Gazeta de Física. Vol. 20 fasc. 1, p.3-5.

Salgueiro, Lídia (1999), “Marie Curie”, Visãonº 332 (Julho 1999).

Salgueiro, Lídia e Carvalho, Luísa (2001), “Manuel Valadares (1904-1982). Facetas de uma personalidade: humana, científica e artística” in Ana Simões (coord.), Memórias de Professores Cientistas. Os 90 anos da FCUL, 1911-2001, Lisboa: Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, pp.70-77.

She also wrote several textbooks in collaboration with her husband José Gomes Ferreira:

– “Física Médica” (lições para alunos), Ed. Serviços Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa (1969)

– “Introdução à Física Atómica e Nuclear” (Vol. I), Escolar Editora, Lisboa (1970)

– “Elementos de Física para estudantes de Biologia”, Escolar Editora, Lisboa (1972 e 1973)

– “Introdução à Física Atómica e Nuclear” (Vol. II), Escolar Editora, Lisboa (1975)

– “Introdução à Biofísica”, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa (1991)

FURTHER READING

Gaspar, J., & Simões, A. (2011). Physics on the Periphery: A Research School at the University of Lisbon under Salazar’s Dictatorship. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences,41(3), 303-343.

Gerald L. Geison (1981), “Scientific Change, Emerging Specialities, and Research Schools” In History of Science, 19. p. 20-40.

Robert T, Beyer Fundamentos da Física Nuclear, vol. 3, Textos Fundamentais da Física Moderna(Lisbon: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2004), orig. edn. Foundations of Nuclear Physics(New York: Dover, 1949)

Santos, António Manuel Nunes dos, Christopher Damien Auretta (2010) “A significant Break in Tradition: the Election of the First Woman to the Sciences Section of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences” In Jornadas de Física por ocasião da jubilação do Professor Rui Namorado Rosa. 121-130.

Viegas, Francisca; Serra, Isabel; Maia, Elisa (2008), “Radioactivity and Portuguese Women Scientists”Third ICESHS, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna: p. 743- 747.

Carvalho, Luísa. (2009) “Evocando a figura de Lídia Coelho Salgueiro” in Gazeta da Física, Vol.31. n.4 , p. 24-30.

WORKS CITED

 António Manuel Nunes dos Santos, Christopher Damien Auretta (2010) “A significant Break in Tradition: the Election of the First Woman to the Sciences Section of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences” In Jornadas de Física por ocasião da jubilação do Professor Rui Namorado Rosa, p. 122.

Gaspar, J., & Simões, A. (2011). Physics on the Periphery: A Research School at the University of Lisbon under Salazar’s Dictatorship. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences,41(3), p. 328.

Gaspar, J., & Simões, A. (2011). Physics on the Periphery: A Research School at the University of Lisbon under Salazar’s Dictatorship. Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences,41(3), p. 329-330.

Carvalho, Luísa. (2009) “Evocando a figura de Lídia Coelho Salgueiro” InGazeta da Física, Vol.31. n.4 , p. 29.