Eva Julia Augusta Ramstedt (15 September 1879 – 11 September 1974) was a Swedish physicist who specialized in radiology and studied under Nobel laureate

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

. She was heavily involved in women's rights in academia and was among the founding members of an association for female academics now known as Kvinnliga Akademikers Förening. Due in part to the association's efforts, several legal changes were enacted that nudged Swedish female academics closer to having the same rights as their male colleagues, including a change to the

Basic Laws of Sweden The Basic Laws of Sweden ( sv, Sveriges grundlagar) are the four constitutional laws of the Kingdom of Sweden that regulate the Swedish political system, acting in a similar manner to the constitutions of most countries. These four laws are: th ...

in 1909 and

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

in 1921.

Education

Ramstedt was born in 1879, in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

to a family with notable socioeconomic capital due to her father,

Johan Ramstedt Johan Olof Ramstedt (7 November 1852 – 15 March 1935) was Prime Minister of Sweden from April to August 1905. Biography Johan Ramstedt was born in Stockholm, son to clothing manufacturer Reinhold Ramstedt and his wife Maria Sofia Haeggstr ...

's, work as a politician. She attended

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

as an undergraduate and graduate student, and finished her doctorate on the properties of expanding liquids at Uppsala University in 1910. After earning her doctorate, Ramstedt studied under Marie Curie at

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Career

In 1903, Ramstedt returned to Sweden and began working at the Nobel Institute of Physical Chemistry. She was appointed to a radiology position at Stockholms högskola (

Stockholm University College Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, soci ...

) in 1915 and continued there until 1932. However, as a woman she was not considered for a permanent professorship and taught classes there only briefly. Instead, she also took a position as a teacher of mathematics and physics at the Stockholm Folkskoleseminariet, a

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

(teacher training college), from 1919 to 1945. Throughout her career, Ramstedt collaborated with many other scientists. Some of her most notable work was produced through her collaboration with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

-based radiochemist

Ellen Gleditsch Ellen Gleditsch (29 December 1879 – 5 June 1968) was a Norwegian radiochemist and Norway's second female professor. Starting her career as an assistant to Marie Curie, she became a pioneer in radiochemistry, establishing the half-life of radiu ...

. They studied

radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiat ...

, specifically the

half-life Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...

radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather t ...

. In 1917, they published a book on the subject called ''Radium och radioaktiva processer''. As a result of her work, Ramstedt received the

Illis quorum ''Illis quorum'' (''Illis quorum meruere labores'') (English: "For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It"), is a gold medal awarded for outstanding contributions to Swedish culture, science or society. The award was introduced in 1784 by King Gust ...

of the eighth degree in 1942.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramstedt, Eva 1879 births 1974 deaths 20th-century Swedish physicists Swedish women physicists Scientists from Stockholm Uppsala University alumni Recipients of the Illis quorum