Penelope Jane Brown is a neutron crystallographer and served as Senior Scientist at the

Institut Laue–Langevin The Institut Laue–Langevin (ILL) is an internationally financed scientific facility, situated on the Polygone Scientifique in Grenoble, France. It is one of the world centres for research using neutrons. Founded in 1967 and honouring the phy ...

until 2012. In 2002 she was the first woman to win the Institute of Physics Michael Faraday Medal.

Early life and education

Brown studied science at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. She completed Part I of the

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

s tripos in 1953 and Part II i 1954. Brown remained at Cambridge for her graduate studies, earning a doctoral degree under the supervision of W H Taylor in 1958. Her PhD considered the crystallographic structures of

intermetallic An intermetallic (also called an intermetallic compound, intermetallic alloy, ordered intermetallic alloy, and a long-range-ordered alloy) is a type of metallic alloy that forms an ordered solid-state compound between two or more metallic elemen ...

compounds. She remained at the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

as a postdoctoral researcher.

Research and career

Brown completed her first

neutron scattering Neutron scattering, the irregular dispersal of free neutrons by matter, can refer to either the naturally occurring physical process itself or to the man-made experimental techniques that use the natural process for investigating materials. Th ...

measurements at the

Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base and Japanese internment c ...

in 1961, where she worked with B. C. Frazer and R. Nathans. She used polarised neutrons to study

hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

. In 1965 Brown was made Assistant Director of Research in the

. She attended the

Harwell Harwell may refer to: People * Harwell (surname) * Harwell Hamilton Harris (1903–1990), American architect Places * Harwell, Nottinghamshire, England, a hamlet *Harwell, Oxfordshire, England, a village **RAF Harwell, a World War II RAF airfield, ...

Summer School on

in 1968. She moved to the

in 1974, where she worked as a Senior Scientist until she retired in 1994. Brown then continued to work at the

until 2012, collaborating with many scientists worldwide. Brown extensively used Polarised Neutron Diffraction techniques for measuring

Magnetisation In classical electromagnetism, magnetization is the vector field that expresses the density of permanent or induced magnetic dipole moments in a magnetic material. Movement within this field is described by direction and is either Axial or Dia ...

densities. She also contributed to the development of the Spherical neutron polarimetry invented by F. Tasset. The polarimeter, called Cryopad (CRYOgenic Polarisation Analysis Device) uses the

Meissner effect The Meissner effect (or Meissner–Ochsenfeld effect) is the expulsion of a magnetic field from a superconductor during its transition to the superconducting state when it is cooled below the critical temperature. This expulsion will repel a n ...

to separate magnetic field regions whose combination allows to control the neutron beam polarisation. She held Visiting Professor positions at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

. She worked on

magnetic shape-memory alloy Magnetic shape memory alloys (MSMAs), also called ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FSMA), are particular shape memory alloys which produce forces and deformations in response to a magnetic field. The thermal shape memory effect has been obtained ...

s and "For her contributions to neutrons in Europe", Brown was awarded the European Neutron Scattering Association Walter Hälg Prize. In 2002 Brown was the first woman to win the Institute of Physics Michael Faraday Medal (then Guthrie medal). To celebrate Brown's achievements, the

held a meeting with her collaborators. She was made a Fellow of

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

in 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Penelope Jane Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of Cambridge British crystallographers British women physicists Honorary Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge