Margot Dorenfeldt (1895–1986) was the first woman to graduate from

Norwegian Institute of Technology The Norwegian Institute of Technology (Norwegian: ''Norges tekniske høgskole'', NTH) was a science institute in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1910, and existed as an independent technical university for 58 years, after which it was m ...

(1919) and specialized in inorganic chemistry and electrochemistry. She published several papers in

radiochemistry Radiochemistry is the chemistry of radioactive materials, where radioactive isotopes of elements are used to study the properties and chemical reactions of non-radioactive isotopes (often within radiochemistry the absence of radioactivity leads to ...

Biography

She was the daughter of Lauritz J. Dorenfeldt (1863–1932), an engineer who was educated in Berlin, and the granddaughter of businessman

Lauritz Dorenfeldt Jenssen Lauritz Dorenfeldt Jenssen (4 February 1801 – 7 June 1859) was a Norwegian businessperson. He was born in Throndhjem as the son of businessman Matz Jenssen (1760–1813) and his wife Anna, née Schjelderup Dorenfeldt (1763–1846). His old ...

(1837–1899). Her mother was Aagot Bødtker (1869–1963). Margot was born 2 October 1895 in

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany, a city **Worms (electoral district) *Worms, Nebraska, U.S. *Worms im Veltlintal, the German name for Bormio, Italy Arts and entertainme ...

, Germany, when her family was there; her father was working on assignment as technical director of a cellulose factory. Margot Dorenfeldt was the second woman to enroll at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) after Aslaug Urbye (who enrolled in 1910, but never completed her studies). In 1919, Dorenfeldt became the first woman to graduate from NTH. While in college, she was active in student debates and made critical comments about her fellow engineers and their record of participation in social politics.

Career

Dorenfeldt found her first job in 1920 as an assistant at the chemistry laboratory at Royal Frederick University (now

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

). A few months later, she was promoted to a secretary-like position, from which she could perform research and teach. Soon she was investigating the atomic weight of

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate betwee ...

while working with the radiochemist and associate professor

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 ...

, who had previously worked with

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 ...

in Paris. Dorenfeldt helped publish their results in English, German and French.Gleditsch, E., Holtan, D., & Berg, O. W. (1925). Détermination du poids atomique du mélange isotopique de plomb de la clévéïte de Aust-Agder, Norvège. ''Journal de Chimie Physique'', ''22'', 253-263. In 1922, the university granted Dorenfeldt a scholarship so she could study at the ''Collège de France'' in Paris. While there she met and married a fellow Norwegian and changed her name to Margot Dorenfeldt Holtan. She published research using her married name as well as her maiden name. As a wife and mother of two, Margot attended to her family but continued working in the field as a part-time secretary and chemist and, according to her own records, she also published scientific work with her husband. Throughout her life, she remained close to her father and his business interests and she took a government position in 1946 and then became an association board member from which she could help protect the interests of his pulp and paper businesses.

Personal life

She was married on 23 February 1923 in Paris to Norwegian engineer Eugen Nannestad Holtan (1893–1959).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorenfeldt, Margot 1895 births 1986 deaths Norwegian chemists Nuclear chemists Norwegian women chemists 20th-century Norwegian women scientists Women chemists