Gertrude Neumark

She was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1927. Her family, who were Jewish, left Germany in 1935. Her father Sigmund’s naturalization papers indicate that she arrived with him and her mother Bertha in Miami from Cuba on SS Florida January 3, 1940. He lists Cuba as their last place of residence.

She died on November 11, 2010, at age 83, due to heart failure.

Neumark graduated B.A. summa cum laude (chemistry) from Barnard College in 1948 and M.A. (chemistry) at Radcliffe College in the following year. She completed her Ph.D. in chemistry at Columbia University in 1951; her thesis entitled "Free cloud approximation to molecular orbital calculations".{{cite thesis |last=Neumark |first=Gertrude |title=Free cloud approximation to molecular orbital calculations |oclc=506474443 |year=1951}}

Following her PhD, she joined the Sylvania Research Laboratories in Bayside, NY as a senior physicist. In 1960, she moved to the Philips Laboratories, Briarcliff Manor, New York, where she worked until 1985. She was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1982. From 1982 to 1985, she was visiting-adjunct professor of materials science at Columbia University, and became a full professor of materials science there in 1985.{{cite news |title=Philips Electronics Honors Professor Gertrude Neumark |url=http://engineering.columbia.edu/web/newsletterarchive/spring08/feature3.php |work=Engineering News |date=Spring 2008 |publisher=Columbia University |access-date=9 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623054835/http://engineering.columbia.edu/web/newsletterarchive/spring08/feature3.php |archive-date=23 June 2010 }}

In 1999, she became the Howe Professor Emerita of Materials Science and Engineering and professor emerita of applied physics and mathematics at Columbia University.

In the 1980s, Neumark began studying the optical properties of wide-bandgap semiconductors and developed diodes capable of using the upper range of the spectrum and serving as a superior light source.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/18/business/18rothschild.html|title=Gertrude Rothschild, Dies at 83; Improved Diodes|first=William|last=Grimes|date=17 November 2010|newspaper=The New York Times}} The new short-wavelength LEDs, emitting blue, green, violet and ultraviolet light, turned out to be much more energy efficient, reliable and long-lived while the short-wavelength-emitting laser diodes could store vastly more information more compactly. This new technology lent itself to a wide variety of applications, from billboards and traffic lights to hand-held mobile devices and high-definition DVD players. Her research led to remarkable advances in the field of electronics, including establishing blue, green, and ultraviolet LEDs as common components in electronics.{{Cite journal|last=Brumfiel|first=Geoff|date= 9 April 2008|title=Gertrude versus Goliath|journal=Nature News|language=en|volume=452|issue=7188|pages=672|doi=10.1038/452672b|pmid=18401367|bibcode = 2008Natur.452..672B |doi-access=free}}

She holds a number of patents on wide-bandgap semiconductor technology, though faced challenges in having her work recognized.{{Cite journal |last= Kiley |first= Kevin |url = http://chronicle.com/article/Gertrude-Neumark-Rothschild/125879/|title = Gertrude Neumark Rothschild, Columbia Professor Who Won Patent Fights, Dies at 83|journal = The Chronicle of Higher Education|access-date = 16 March 2016|date = 9 January 2011}}

In relation with infringing on two of her semiconductor patents, she had to file lawsuits against several electronics companies, including the Philips Lumileds Lighting Company, Epistar, Toyoda Gosei and Osram in 2005, which were subsequently settled out of court.{{cite web| last= Greenspan |first=Jesse |date= 8 August 2006 |url=http://www.law360.com/articles/8317/led-maker-settles-with-columbia-professor|title=LED Maker Settles With Columbia Professor |website=www.law360.com}} In 2008, Neumark again had to file a complaint seeking to block imports into the United States of a range of products that she said were infringing her patents on wide-bandgap semiconductor technology,{{cite news|first=Kiyoshi |last=Takenaka |title=U.S. trade body to probe Sony |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUST32692520080321 |date= 21 March 2008 |access-date=9 November 2012 |work=Reuters}} resulting in a number of companies agreeing to license the patents.{{Cite web|url=http://www.compoundsemiconductor.net/article/85323-panasonic-and-toshiba-take-on-rothschild.html|title=Panasonic and Toshiba take on Rothschild |website=www.compoundsemiconductor.net|access-date=2016-03-16|archive-date=2016-03-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323032209/http://www.compoundsemiconductor.net/article/85323-panasonic-and-toshiba-take-on-rothschild.html|url-status=dead |date=3 April 2009}} According to family members, the suits were not about money but about fairness—especially for women scientists—she thought were being discriminated against.

{{reflist}}

• [http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch01488 Gertrude Neumark Rothschild's Papers]
• 1993 patent, "[https://patents.google.com/patent/US4904618 Process for doping crystals of wide band gap semiconductors]" mentioned in the lawsuits

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Category:Semiconductor physicists

Category:1927 births

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