Mary K. Gaillard
{{Short description|American physicist (1939–2025)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Mary K. Gaillard
| image = Mary Gaillard, 2015.jpg
| caption = Gaillard in 2015
| birth_name = Mary Katherine Ralph
| birth_date = {{birth date|1939|4|1}}
| birth_place = New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2025|5|23|1939|4|1}}
| death_place =
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Jean-Marc Gaillard|August 5, 1961|November 1983}}
- {{marriage|Bruno Zumino|1984|21 June 2014}}
}}
| children = 3
| field = Physics
| work_institution = University of California, Berkeley
| alma_mater = {{plainlist|
}}
| doctoral_advisor = Bernard d'Espagnat
| thesis_title = Contribution à l'étude des interactions faibles non leptoniques
| thesis_year = 1967
| doctoral_students = {{plainlist|
}}
| known_for = Standard Model
| prizes = {{plainlist|
- E. O. Lawrence Award (1988)
- Sakurai Prize (1993)
}}
}}
{{External media | width = 210px | headerimage= | video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zN8fI-X-RY "One woman’s journey in physics"], Mary K Gaillard, June 1, 2016, CERN.}}
Mary Katharine Gaillard (née Ralph; April 1, 1939 – May 23, 2025) was an American theoretical physicist, known for her work in particle physics. She was a professor of the graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, a member of the Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics, and visiting scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She was Berkeley's first tenured female physicist.{{cite journal |last1=Gibson |first1=Val |title=Physics: She did it all |journal=Nature |date=August 2015 |volume=524 |issue=7564 |pages=160 |doi=10.1038/524160a |bibcode=2015Natur.524..160G |s2cid=4389262 |doi-access=free }}
Gaillard's influential contributions included the prediction of the mass of the charm quark prior to its discovery (with Benjamin W. Lee); the prediction of 3-jet events (with John Ellis and Graham Ross); and the prediction of b-quark mass (with M.S. Chanowitz and Ellis).{{cite journal |last1=Maiani |first1=Luciano |last2=Bonolis |first2=Luisa |title=The Charm of Theoretical Physics (1958–1993) |journal=The European Physical Journal H |date=December 2017 |volume=42 |issue=4–5 |pages=611–661 |doi=10.1140/epjh/e2017-80040-9 |arxiv=1707.01833 |bibcode=2017EPJH...42..611M |s2cid=119365093 |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1140%2Fepjh%2Fe2017-80040-9.pdf |access-date=January 26, 2022}}{{cite journal |last1=Gaillard |first1=Mary K. |last2=Lee |first2=Benjamin W. |last3=Rosner |first3=Jonathan L. |title=Search for charm |journal=Reviews of Modern Physics |date=April 1, 1975 |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=277–310 |doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.47.277 |bibcode=1975RvMP...47..277G |url=https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.47.277 |access-date=January 26, 2022|url-access=subscription }}{{cite journal |author-first1=A. |author-last1=Ali |author-first2= G.|author-last2= Kramer |year=2011 |title=JETS and QCD: A historical review of the discovery of the quark and gluon jets and its impact on QCD |journal=European Physical Journal H |volume= 36|issue= 2|pages=245–326 |doi=10.1140/epjh/e2011-10047-1 |bibcode = 2011EPJH...36..245A |arxiv = 1012.2288 |s2cid=54062126}}{{cite book |last1=Ellis |first1=John |last2=Gaillard |first2=Mary K. |last3=Nanopoulos |first3=Dimitri V. |title=The Standard Theory of Particle Physics |chapter=A Historical Profile of the Higgs Boson |series=Advanced Series on Directions in High Energy Physics |date=January 31, 2012 |volume=26 |pages=255–274 |doi=10.1142/9789814733519_0014 |isbn=978-981-4733-50-2 |s2cid=35488065 |url=https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1076793 |access-date=January 26, 2022 |language=English}}{{cite journal |last1=Ellis |first1=John |title=The Discovery of the Gluon |journal=World Scientific Review |date=September 16, 2014 |volume=29 |issue=31 |doi=10.1142/S0217751X14300725 |arxiv=1409.4232 |bibcode=2014IJMPA..2930072E |s2cid=119255094 }} Gaillard's autobiography is A Singularly Unfeminine Profession, published in 2015 by World Scientific.{{cite book|author=Gaillard, Mary K.|title=A Singularly Unfeminine Profession: One Woman's Journey In Physics|publisher=World Scientific|year=2015|isbn=9789814644242 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtqiCgAAQBAJ}} ebook {{isbn|978-981-4644-22-8}}; pbk {{isbn|978-981-4713-22-1}}{{cite web |last1=Glazer |first1=Amanda |date=December 4, 2019 |title=Perseverance, Brilliance and Charm: An Interview With Mary Gaillard |url=https://berkeleysciencereview.com/article/2019/12/04/perseverance-brilliance-and-charm-an-interview-with-mary-gaillard |website=Berkeley Science Review |access-date=January 26, 2022}}{{cite journal|author=Gavela, M. Belén|title=Review of A Singularly Unfeminine Profession: One Woman's Journey in Physics|journal=Physics Today|volume=69|issue=2|year=2016|pages=50–51|doi=10.1063/PT.3.3084}}
Early life
Mary Katharine Ralph was born April 1, 1939, in New Brunswick, New Jersey,{{cite book |chapter=Mary Gaillard: theoretical physicist |last1=Hargittai |first1=Magdolna |title=Women scientists: reflections, challenges, and breaking boundaries |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ktnBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 |date=2015 |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-935998-1 |access-date=January 26, 2022}} and grew up in Painesville, Ohio, where her father taught history at Lake Erie College.{{cite journal |last1=Gaillard |first1=Mary K. |title=Adventures with Particles |journal=Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science |date=September 21, 2021 |volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=1–21 |doi=10.1146/annurev-nucl-111119-053716 |bibcode=2021ARNPS..71....1G |s2cid=239237288 |issn=0163-8998|doi-access=free }}
She attended Hollins College in Virginia as an undergraduate. Her physics professor, Dorothy Montgomery, helped her to find work in the Louis Leprince-Ringuet laboratory in France during a year abroad, and at Brookhaven National Labs in the summer. She received her bachelor's degree from Hollins in 1960. She received her master's degree from Columbia University in 1961.{{cite web |title=Gaillard, Mary K. |url=https://history.aip.org/phn/11510009.html |website=American Institute of Physics |access-date=January 26, 2022}}
At the end of her first year at Columbia she married Jean-Marc Gaillard, a visiting physics postdoctoral student. She moved with him, first to the University of Paris at Orsay, France and a year later to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. Despite experiencing sexism and having three children, she continued to study theoretical physics. In 1964 she obtained her Doctorat du Troisième Cycle from the University of Paris at Orsay, France. In 1968, she completed her Doctorat d'Etat in Theoretical Physics there.{{cite thesis | last=Ralph-Gaillard | first=Mary K. | title=Contribution à l'étude des interactions faibles non leptoniques | year=1967 | oclc=601137553 | language=fr}}
Career
During her time at CERN (1964–1981) Gaillard was considered a visiting scientist, first as a student from Orsay, and later as a research scientist employed by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). At one point, she carried out and submitted a survey of women scientists at CERN, documenting clear patterns of blatant sexism against women scientists in hiring and salaries.
Nonetheless, her scientific achievements at CERN led to her advancement at CNRS.
In 1979 Gaillard established a particle theory group at the Laboratoire d'Annecy-le-Vieux de physique des particules (LAPP), Annecy-le-Vieux, France. She directed the group from 1979 to 1981. She served as director of research at Annecy-le-Vieux for the CNRS from 1980 to 1981. In 1981, the Gaillards divorced, and she returned to the United States.
Gaillard joined the physics department at Berkeley in 1981, becoming the first woman professor of physics. She was concurrently a faculty senior staff member at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), where she headed the Theory Group from 1985 to 1987.
Gaillard served on several committees of the American Physical Society, advisory panels for the Department of Energy and the United States National Research Council, and on advisory and visiting committees at universities and national laboratories. She was a member of the National Science Board from 1996 to 2002.
Research
Her research accomplishments include pioneering work with Benjamin W. Lee on the evaluation of strong interaction corrections to weak transitions, including the successful prediction of the mass of the charm quark; work with John Ellis and others on the analysis of final states in electron-positron collisions, including the prediction of Three-jet events, and studies of unified gauge theories, including the prediction of the bottom quark mass; studies with Michael Chanowitz of signatures at proton-proton colliders which showed, on very general grounds, that new physics must show up at sufficiently high energies. Her later work focused on effective supergravity theories based on superstrings, and their implications for phenomena that may be detected both in accelerator experiments and cosmological observations.
Awards and honors
- 1977, Prix Thibaud, Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Arts of Lyon{{cite book |last1=Oakes |first1=Elizabeth H. |title=Encyclopedia of World Scientists |date=2007 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1882-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPRB-OED1bcC&pg=PA259 |access-date=January 26, 2022 |language=en}}
- 1984, Fellow of the American Physical Society{{cite web |title=APS Fellow Archive |website=American Physical Society |url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=1984&unit_id=&institution=University+of+California,+Berkeley |access-date=January 26, 2022 |language=en}} (search on year 1984 and institution University of California, Berkeley)
- 1988, E.O. Lawrence Memorial Award, U. S. Department of Energy{{cite web |title= Mary K. Gaillard, 1988 |url=https://science.osti.gov/lawrence/Award-Laureates/1980s/gaillard |website=U. S. Department of Energy |access-date=January 26, 2022 |date=December 28, 2010}}
- 1989, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences{{cite web|title= Professor Mary Katharine Ralph Gaillard |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/mary-katharine-ralph-gaillard |publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=January 25, 2022}}
- 1991, Member of National Academy of Sciences{{cite web |title=PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES THREE MEMBERS TO THE NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD |url=https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/1996/08/1996-08-02-members-to-be-nominated-to-national-science-board.html |website=THE WHITE HOUSE |access-date=January 26, 2022}}
- 1993, J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics{{cite web |title=1993 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics Recipient Mary K. Gaillard |url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?first_nm=Mary&last_nm=Gaillard&year=1993 |website=American Physical Society |access-date=January 26, 2022 |language=en}}
- 2000, Member of the American Philosophical Society{{cite journal |title=Members elected in 2000 |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |date=2000 |volume=144 |issue=4 |page=494 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5i6vSWLIvkC&pg=PA494 |access-date=January 26, 2022 |publisher=American Philosophical Society |isbn=978-1-4223-7274-6 |language=en}}
Personal life and death
She married Jean Marc Gaillard with whom she had three children – Alain, Dominique and Bruno. Later, she married Bruno Zumino. Gaillard died on May 23, 2025, at the age of 86.{{Cite web |date=May 25, 2025 |title=Remembering Mary K Gaillard, pioneering theoretical physicist, esteemed educator, inspirational trailblazer {{!}} Physics |url=https://physics.berkeley.edu/news/remembering-mary-k-gaillard-pioneering-theoretical-physicist-esteemed-educator-inspirational |access-date=May 25, 2025 |website=physics.berkeley.edu}}
Publications
- {{Cite book |last=Gaillard |first=Mary K. |date=July 2015 |title=A Singularly Unfeminine Profession: One Woman's Journey in Physics |url=https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/9443#t=aboutBook |url-access=subscription |archive-url= |archive-date= |url-status= |edition=1st hardcover |location=Singapore |publisher=World Scientific Publishing Company |doi=10.1142/9443 |bibcode=2015sup..book.....G |isbn=978-981-4644-22-8 |oclc=898167730 |access-date=29 May 2025}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://physics.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/mary-k-gaillard UC Berkeley Faculty webpage]
- [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/44286 Oral history interview transcript for Mary K. Gaillard on 2 April 2020, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives]
- [https://inspirehep.net/author/profile/M.K.Gaillard.1 Scientific publications of M. K. Gaillard] on INSPIRE-HEP
- {{cite web | title=Symposium for Mary K. Gaillard | website=physics.berkeley.edu | date=14 April 2022 | url=https://physics.berkeley.edu/news-events/events/20190921/symposium-for-mary-k-gaillard | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220518224900/https://physics.berkeley.edu/news-events/events/20190921/symposium-for-mary-k-gaillard | archive-date=18 May 2022 | url-status=dead | access-date=29 May 2025}}
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Category:20th-century American physicists
Category:20th-century American women scientists
Category:21st-century American physicists
Category:21st-century American women scientists
Category:American women physicists
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society
Category:Hollins University alumni
Category:J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics recipients
Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Category:Paris-Sud University alumni