Isabella Karle (December 2, 1921 – October 3, 2017) was an American chemist who was instrumental in developing techniques to extract plutonium chloride from a mixture containing

plutonium oxide Plutonium(IV) oxide or (plutonia) is the chemical compound with the formula Pu O2. This high melting-point solid is a principal compound of plutonium. It can vary in color from yellow to olive green, depending on the particle size, temperature a ...

. For her scientific work, Karle received the

Garvan–Olin Medal The Francis P. Garvan–John M. Olin Medal is an annual award that recognizes distinguished scientific accomplishment, leadership and service to chemistry by women chemists. The Award is offered by the American Chemical Society (ACS), and consist ...

Gregori Aminoff Prize The Gregori Aminoff Prize is an international prize awarded since 1979 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the field of crystallography, rewarding "a documented, individual contribution in the field of crystallography, including areas conce ...

Bower Award The Franklin Institute Awards (or Benjamin Franklin Medal) is an American science and engineering award presented by the Franklin Institute, a science museum in Philadelphia. The Franklin Institute awards comprises the Benjamin Franklin Medals ...

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...

, and the

Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award {{infobox military award , name = , image = DON Distinguished Civilian Service.png , image_size = 100px , caption = Department of the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Medal , presenter = Departm ...

(which is the Navy's highest form of recognition to civilian employees).

Early life

She was born as Isabella Helen Lugoski in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

on December 2, 1921, the daughter of immigrants from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. She attended the local public schools, while at school, a female chemistry teacher led her to her pursuit of the field as a career.Staff
" profile"
''

Journal of Chemical Education The ''Journal of Chemical Education'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal available in both print and electronic versions. It is published by the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society and was established in 1924 ...

''. Accessed September 22, 2009. She attended the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

on full scholarship, where she majored in

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...

and received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

at age 19, followed by

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

degrees in the field. During her graduate work she met her future husband and scientific collaborator

Jerome Karle Jerome Karle (born Jerome Karfunkle; June 18, 1918 – June 6, 2013) was an American physical chemist. Jointly with Herbert A. Hauptman, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1985, for the direct analysis of crystal structures using X-ra ...

; the two were both advised in their Ph.D. studies by Lawrence Brockway.

Career

Karle worked on the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, where she developed techniques to extract plutonium chloride from a mixture containing

. She joined the

United States Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological ...

(NRL) after the end of the war. At the NRL, her husband Jerome developed "direct methods" for analyzing structure of crystals. However, for many years the crystallographic community remained skeptical about their utility. Isabella Karle was the first person to apply the method. She developed the symbolic addition procedure that connects the theoretical "direct method" apparatus and actual X-ray diffraction data. These contributions advanced the field of

X-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...

by enabling determination of the structure of crystals. This technique has played a major role in the development of new pharmaceutical products and other synthesized materials. In 1985,

was awarded the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

, together with mathematician

Herbert A. Hauptman Herbert Aaron Hauptman (February 14, 1917 – October 23, 2011) was an American mathematician and Nobel laureate. He pioneered and developed a mathematical method that has changed the whole field of chemistry and opened a new era in research in ...

, for developing direct methods for analyzing X-ray diffraction data. Jerome Karle and many other members of the crystallography community strongly believed that Isabella Karle should have shared the prize. Karle received many honors. She was elected a Fellow of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

(1978) and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

(1993). She was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1992. In addition, she received the

(1995), various awards, and eight honorary doctorates. On July 31, 2009, Karle and her husband retired from the Naval Research Laboratory, after a combined 127 years of service to the United States Government, with Karle joining the NRL in 1946, two years after her husband. Retirement ceremonies for the Karles were attended by

United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the United States Department of the Navy, Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States D ...

Ray Mabus Raymond Edwin Mabus Jr. (; born October 11, 1948) is an American politician and lawyer. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2017. Mabus previously served as the State Auditor ...

, who presented the couple with the Department of the

, the Navy's highest form of recognition to civilian employees.McKinney, Donna
"Jerome and Isabella Karle Retire from NRL Following Six Decades of Scientific Exploration"
,

press release dated July 21, 2009. Accessed September 22, 2009.

Death

She died on October 3, 2017 at a hospice in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

Personal life

Karle was married to

with whom she had three daughters, all of whom work in scientific fields:Jerome Karle: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1985

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

. Accessed September 22, 2009. *Louise Karle (born 1946) is a theoretical chemist *Jean Karle (1950) is an organic chemist *Madeleine Karle (1955) is a museum specialist with expertise in the field of geology.

Awards

(1976) *

Rear Admiral William S. Parsons Award The Rear Admiral William S. Parsons Award for Scientific and Technical Progress is awarded each year by the Navy League of the United States The Navy League of the United States, commonly referred to as the Navy League, is a national association ...

(1988) *

(1988) * Bijvoet Medal of the

Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research The Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research is a research institute at Utrecht University. The Bijvoet Centre performs research on the relation between the structure and function of biomolecules, including proteins and lipids, which play a role ...

(1989) *

(1993) *

(1995) *

(2009)

References

External links

2015 Video interview with Isabella Karle by the Atomic Heritage Foundation
Voices of the Manhattan Project
2005 Video Interview with Isabella Karle by the Atomic Heritage Foundation
Voices of the Manhattan Project * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karle, Isabella 1921 births 2017 deaths American crystallographers Scientists from Detroit University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni American biophysicists National Medal of Science laureates Recipients of the Garvan–Olin Medal American women chemists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American physical chemists Manhattan Project people Women biophysicists Bijvoet Medal recipients Women on the Manhattan Project Members of the American Philosophical Society