Background
Neumark, Gertrude Fanny was born on April 29, 1927 in Nuremberg, Germany. Daughter of Siegmund and Bertha (Forchheimer) Neumark. came to the United States, 1939.
physicist university professor
Neumark, Gertrude Fanny was born on April 29, 1927 in Nuremberg, Germany. Daughter of Siegmund and Bertha (Forchheimer) Neumark. came to the United States, 1939.
She graduated from Barnard College in 1948, completing an Master of Arts at Radcliffe College the next year, and a Doctor of Philosophy at Columbia in 1951. She joined the Sylvania Research Laboratories in Bayside, New York in 1952 as a Senior Physicist. She moved in 1960 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 or adjunct Professor of Materials Science at Columbia, and became Professor of Materials Science there in 1985.
In 2009, she was the Howe Professor Emerita of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor Emerita of Applied Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University.
Her family, who were Jewish, fled Germany in 1935. Neumark research into light-emitting diodes led to advances, including blue, green, and ultraviolet LEDs in as common components in electronics. She holds a number of patents on wide-bandgap semiconductor technology, though faced challenges in having her work recognized.
In 2006, she settled out of court with a number of LED manufacturers.
In 2008, Neumark filed 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, resulting in a number of companies agreeing to license the patents. According to family members, the suits were not about money but about fairness—especially for female scientists—she thought were being discriminated against.
Fellow American Physical Society (Goeppert-Meyer award committee 1987-1989). Member Materials Research Society, Electrochemical Society (senior), Society Women Engineers (senior), American Chemical Society F C.
Married Henry Rothschilld, March 18, 1950.