Anneke Levelt Sengers: An international authority in the thermodynamics of fluids and a passionate advocate for women in science
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: American physicist, an international authority in the thermodynamics of fluids and fluid mixtures, especially near critical points, and a passionate advocate for women in science, passed away at Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg, Maryland on February 28, 2024, a few days shy of her 95th birthday.Anneke was born in Amsterdam on March 4, 1929.Her father had a PhD in chemistry and her mother had a master's degree in physics and astronomy.During World War II, her father was arrested by the Nazis and survived imprisonment in the Buchenwald concentration camp.As the oldest daughter, Anneke helped care for her nine siblings in her youth and kept in loving contact with them over the years.As a highly distinguished scientist and mother of four children, a very rare combination in the 1960s and 1970s, Anneke was well ahead of her times.Despite being born at a time when women were not welcomed into science and engineering, Anneke chose a career in physics.She was among those women whose determination, persistence, and excellence as scientists changed the landscape for the women who came after them.Anneke grew up during a time when the Imperial German slogan, according to which women were fit only for "Kinder, Küche, und Kirche" (children, kitchen, and church), was still generally accepted.She did enjoy those more traditional roles: she gloried in her children and grandchildren, and she was an excellent cook.However, she did not let those roles define her life.Anneke obtained her PhD in physics at the University of Amsterdam in 1958.Her dissertation, Measurements of the Compressibility of Argon in the Gaseous and Liquid Phase ( 1 ), was supervised by the distinguished physicists Antonius M. J. F. Michels, and Jan de Boer, the latter in informal capacity.Anneke's measurements of the equation of state of argon were among the most accurate ever made.Upon comparing her argon data with xenon data, she found departures from the theory of corresponding states.At Amsterdam, Anneke also contributed to measuring the equations of state of hydrogen and deuterium, and she developed and tested a quantum-mechanical cell model with data for their liquid phases.After a year as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin, she returned to the van der Waals Laboratory in the Netherlands.Anneke and fellow van der Waals Laboratory physicist Jan V. Sengers were married in 1963.Their loving partnership of 61 years was an essential pillar throughout their careers.Soon after getting married, Jan and Anneke emigrated to the United States, so that she could have a career.Anneke joined the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), now the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).While her career was centered at NBS/ NIST, Jan's was based at the nearby campus of the University of Maryland.Thus, Anneke and Jan circumvented many of
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4401778968