Helen Schaeffer Huff (1883 – January 19, 1913) was an American physicist. She received her PhD in physics from Bryn Mawr College in 1908, with a minor in pure and applied mathematics. Her dissertation was entitled A Study of the Electric Spark in a Magnetic Field.

Helen Schaeffer Huff
Born1883 (1883)
DiedJanuary 19, 1913(1913-01-19) (aged 29–30)
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
NationalityAmerican
Alma materPhD, Bryn Mawr College, 1908

Research and education

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While at Bryn Mawr, Schaeffer Huff studied mathematics with Charlotte Scott. In the 1905–1906 academic year, she visited the University of Göttingen. In Göttingen, Schaeffer Huff attended physics lectures and researched the absorption bands of rare earths when dissolved in various solvents under the supervision of Woldemar Voigt. She published the results of her research with Voigt in Physikalische Zeitschrift.[1]

A Bryn Mawr research fellowship is named in Schaeffer Huff's honor.[2]

Family

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Schaeffer Huff's father Nathan C. Schaeffer was a Pennsylvania state superintendent of education. Schaeffer Huff had two brothers and four sisters.

Schaeffer Huff married William B. Huff, a Bryn Mawr physics professor, in August 1908. They had two children, born on December 29, 1912. Their daughter died shortly after birth, and Schaeffer Huff died at her home in Bryn Mawr on January 19, 1913.[3][4]

References

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  1. ^ Lorenat, Jemma (2019). ""Actual Accomplishments in This World": The Other Students of Charlotte Angas Scott". Mathematical Intelligencer. 42: 56–65. doi:10.1007/s00283-018-9850-2. S2CID 128087313.
  2. ^ Singer, Sandra (2003). Adventures Abroad: North American Women at German-speaking Universities. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 93.
  3. ^ Hardesty-Cleaver, Ethelyn (November 1912). "In Memoriam: Helen Schaeffer-Huff". Arrow of Pi Beta Phi. 29: 446–448.
  4. ^ "Death of Mrs. William B. Huff". The Lancaster Examiner. January 22, 1913. p. 5. Retrieved April 9, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
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